m 





■eet, J 

]> r 9 




Class JjAHQI 
Book • H 1 JL_ 



33g tl)e same $utl)m\ 



Morning and Night Watches. Fine edition, 16mo, . . 60 

Morning and Night Watches. Pocket Edition. 32mo, . . 30 

Do. Do. Do. Gilt, 40 

The Words of Jesns. Fine edition, open type, 16mo, . 40 

The Mind of Jesns. Fine edition, open type, 16mo, . . 40 

The Words and Mind of Jesns. Fine edition, 16mo, . . 60 

The Faithfnl Promiser and Altar Stones. Large type, . 25 
The Words and Blind of Jesus and Faithfnl Promiser. 

All in 1 vol., 32mo, pocket edition. Plain, ... 30 

Do. Do. Do. Gilt, . 40 

The Footsteps of St. Panl. Illustrated. 12mo, . . . 1 00 

Family Prayers. l6mo, 75 

Woodcutter of Lehanon and Exiles of Lucerna, ... 50 

The Great Journey, 30 

Child's Book of Divinity, 25 

Evening Incense. 16mo, 40 

Memories of Bethany. 16mo, 60 

Memories of Gennesaret, 1 00 

The Bow in the Cloud, 40 

The Story of Bethlehem, 60 

The Hart and Water-Brooks, 60 

The Cities of Refuge. Illustrated. 18mo, 30 

Grapes of Eshcol. 16mo, • 60 




<©r, 



(Bleaningg from tfje lLanD of promise. 



^utfjot of 

"ponttng anb |%fji SSaftfjss/' "Memories of 
§SciIjmtg," tPc 



3\ T ctD Sjork : 

gobcrt feto « growers, 33S IBroabbag. 
WW. 



:e>Tsoi 



" Thus take thy heart into the ' Land of Promise.' Shew it the pleasant hills and 
fruitful valleys : Shew it the Clusters of Grapes which thou hast gathered ; to 
convince it that it is a Blessed Land, flowing with better than milk and honey." — 
Richard Baxter, [1615.J 

" The milk and the honey is beyond this wilderness. God be merciful to you ; 
and grant that you be not slothful to go in to possess the land. 

" They had the City itself in view : and they thought they heard all the bells 
therein to ring, to welcome them thereunto." — John Bunyan, (1623.) 



By Bx^fc* njra 



THIS LITTLE VOLUME 

IS DEDICATED TO 

ONE, 

WHOSE CALM SUBMISSION 

TO THE HAND OF GOD UNDER A LINGERING 

SICKNESS, AND HER BRIGHT HOPE OF 

" A BETTER COUNTRY," 

WHERE 

a THE INHABITANT SHALL NO MORE SAY, I AM SICK," 

HAVE INSPIRED NOT A FEW OF ITS 

THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS. 



" afllljeret'ore, ©elotiea, 
seeing; tljat pe look foe ^ttctj tljingtf, 

be Diligent, 

rijat pe map be found of l^int in 

peace, 

tmtljout 0pot, 

a no 

blameless." 

2 Peter hi. 14. 





PECULATIVE difcuffion, attra&ive il- 
luftration, or the syftematic treatment 
of a great theme, will not be found in 
thefe pages. They confift mainly of simple 
meditations on the glories of a Future World, — 
fragmentary thoughts and reflections, written 
with special reference to the chamber of sick- 
nefs, the couch of suffering, and the home of 
bereavement. 

Nothing surely can so cheer the fainting be- 
liever, bowed down with sin and sorrow, as the 
profpect of Heavenly biifs. It is the thought 
of the joy in the morning of immortality which 
dries earth's bittereft tears. The heart of the 
child leaps at the sight of his Father's houfe. 
' The lights in the diftant windows cannot fail to 
revive his spirit and quicken his footfteps. 

The following are a few such diftant rays 



Vlll PREFACE. 

from "the Excellent Glory," — a few GRAPES 
gathered by " Faith and Hope, the two spies 
from the true Canaan," — a few Pifgah-glimpfes 
of its Vineyards and Oliveyards. Glimpfes, in- 
deed, only they are, — at beft fitful and tranfient ; 
for even the mount of faith is oftentimes wreathed 
with clouds and vapours, dimming to the bright- 
eft vifion its views of the future. But shadowy 
and indiftin6l as at beft they mufl be, they may 
help us the better to defcend the Valley, complete 
our warfare, and, finally, with our pilgrim-staff, 
"to pafs over this Jordan," (Gen. xxxii. 10.) By 
revealing a diftant view of the crown, we may 
be enabled the more cheerfully to bear the crofs. 
" The very hope we have of it, works wonderful 
joy in the heart of a Chriflian. David did not 
live to see the glory of Solomon's temple, but he 
made provijion for it, and caft the model of it, and 
he took much delight in the contemplatio7i of what 
it would be. ... . Here are some sparks, some be- 
ginnings of the Glory of Heaven, and of that great 
joy which we shall have hereafter? * 

The night-watch, with some whofe eyes may 
* Archbifhop Ufher, (1638.) 



PREFACE. IX 

trace thefe pages, cannot now be long. Already 
the gray streaks of morning may be telling that 
they are " nearing sunrife." New strains of 
celeftial mufic may be wafted from the half- 
opened portal — new voices from the spirit-land 
heard saying, " Come up hither." " Strangers and 
pilgrims" on the earth! let your citizenfhip be 
in Heaven. Let the rents and fissures which 
trial, in its varied forms, may have made in 
the walls of your frail earthly tabernacle, only 
serve to let the rays of the ineffable glory steal 
more brightly through. May thefe feeble fore- 
taftes quicken your longings for the full and 
gladfome fruition. 

It will be seen that the Meditations have 
been numbered, so as to extend over a month, 
in cafe any should defire to use them as 
Daily Readings. There has been no attempt 
to link the chapters together by any train of 
confecutive thought. Each, purpofely short, is 
independent of what precedes or follows. The 
reader may, moreover, find similar ideas or re- 
flexions more than once reappearing. But as 
the grand leading characleriftics of Heavenly 



X PREFACE. 

happinefs revealed in Scripture, are compara- 
tively few, such repetition (in the cafe of a devo- 
tional series) was, to a certain extent, unavoid- 
able ; and by thofe who read for profit, not for 
criticifm, will be readily underftood and forgiven. 








PAGE 


I. 


REST, . 


, I 


II. 


CEASELESS ACTIVITY, . 


13 


III. 


CONTINUAL PROGRESS, 


25 


IV. 


MANY MANSIONS, 


33 


V. 


MANY MANSIONS, , , 


43 


VI. 


JOYFUL REUNIONS, 


5i 


VII. 


NO SICKNESS, . 


65 


VIII. 


THE DEATH OF DEATH, 


75 


IX. 


WAKING REALITIES, 


85 


X. 


FACE TO FACE, . . 


9i 


XI. 


UNNEEDED LUMINARIES, 


99 


XII. 


VISION AND FRUITION, 


107 


XIII. 


LOCALITY AND CHARACTER, . 


"5 


XIV. 


THE MUTUAL JOY, 


127 


XV. 


THE MUTUAL JOY, 


135 


XVI. 


DIVERSE MAGNITUDES, 


143 


XVII. 


GLORIFIED BODIES, , 


151 


XVIII. 


NO TEMPLE, . , 


159 



cii 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


XIX. 


THE GLORIOUS TRANSITION, . 


l67 


XX. 


THE ALL IN ALL, 


175 


XXI. 


SUFFERING AND GLORY, 


l8l 


XXII. 


THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER, 


191 


XXIII. 


THE BRIMMING FOUNTAIN, 


199 


XXIV. 


IMMEDIATE ENTRANCE, 


207 


XXV. 


FROM GLORY TO GLORY, 


215 


XXVI. 


THE HEAVENLY FIRMAMENT, . 


, 221 


XXVII. 


THE VICTOR'S SONG, . 


231 


XXVIII. 


THE VICTOR'S DRESS, . 


239 


XXIX. 


THE NIGHTLESS WORLD, 


247 


XXX. 


LIVING FOUNTAINS, 


257 


XXXI. 


FOR EVER, . 


265 





" Chime on, ye bells ! again begin, 
And ring the Sabbath morning in. 
The labourer's week-day work is done, 

The reft begun 
Which Chrift has for His people won." 




a There remaineth therefore a reft to the people of 
God."— Heb. iv. 9. 

OW sweet the mufic of this firfh heavenly 
■ chime floating acrofs the waters of death 
from the towers of the new Jerufalem ! 
Pilgrim, faint under thy long and arduous 
pilgrimage, hear it ! It is REST. Soldier, carry- 
ing still upon thee the blood and duft of battle, 
hear it! It is REST. Voyager, toffed on the 
waves of sin and sorrow, driven hither and 
thither on the world's heaving ocean of vicis- 
situde, hear it ! The haven is in sight ; the 
very waves that are breaking on the shore 



2 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

seem to murmur — " So giveth He His beloved 
REST." It is the long-drawn sigh of exiftence 
at laft anfwered. The toil and travail of 
earth's protra6led week is at an end. The 
calm of its unbroken Sabbath is begun. Man, 
weary man, has found at laft the long-sought- 
for rest in the bofom of his God ! 

This Heavenly Rest will be a rest from sin. 

Sin is the great difturber of the moral uni- 
verfe. The world — the soul — was once like an 
^Eolian harp ; every paffing zephyr woke it 
into melody. Now it is tunelefs, unftrung ; its 
notes diffonant and harfh. Not till the Sabbatic 
morning of heaven dawn, w T ill the old harmonies 
be reftored. Joyful anticipation ! perfect and 
entire emancipation, not only from all tempta- 
tion without, but from all bias to evil within. 
No latent principle of corruption — no depreffing 
confcioufnefs of inherent sin — no germinating 
seeds or roots that can develop themfelves into 
fruit — no languid frames — no guilty fears and 
apprehenfions — no sorrowful eftrangements from 
that Love whofe smile is heaven ; — a reft from 



REST. 3 

Satan's deceitful wiles and infidious snares ; — 
tliefe no longer felt or feared. What more can 
be needed ? A reftfro7n sin, and a reft in God. 
As the needle in the compafs, after many tremu- 
lous vibrations, at laft settles in steady repofe 
in the direction of its pole, so the redeemed 
spirit — all its tremblings, and faintings, and fitful 
aberrations at an end — shall remain, with its 
refined energies, its ennobled powers, and puri- 
fied afpirations undeviatingly fixed and centred 
on Jehovah Himfelf. Its eternal motto will be 
— " This is my rest for ever!' 

Heaven will be a Rest from all doubt and error. 

Here, how much there is of darknefs and 
uncertainty! The volume of the Divine ways is 
a myfterious volume. As the breath dims the 
window-pane in looking out on the faireft land- 
scape, so the breath on the windows of senfe 
and sight often obfcures the glory of the moral 
landfcape, caufing us to exclaim — " Now we see 
through a glafs darkly f" The material world 
around us, and the spiritual world within us, are 
full of enigmas which we cannot solve ; much 



4 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

more may we expe6t marvels and myfteries in 
the ways and dealings of God — "deep/' great 
deep " judgments !" 

But then all will be cleared. "In Thy light 
shall zve see light!' The day will then break, and 
the looming murky shadows shall for ever flee 
away. Doctrinal difficulties will be explained, 
apparent inconfiftencies removed, withering 
doubts for ever silenced. No more impeach- 
ments of the Divine veracity, or queftionings of 
the Divine procedure. Looking down from the 
summit of the everlafting hills on the mazy 
windings of the earthly pilgrimage, every ran- 
somed tongue will have the one confeffion — "He 
hath done all tilings welly 

The Rest of Heaven will be a rest from sorrow 
and suffering. 

This is a weeping world. Deny it who may ; 
it has its smiles, but it has as often its tears. 

Ye who have the cup of its joys fulleft, be 
thankful while it is yours ; but carry it with 
trembling. The head that is now planning its 
golden projects may to-morrow be laid on the 



REST. 5 

pillow of sicknefs, with the dim night-lamp for 
weary months its companion. The joyous circle, 
now uninvaded by the King of Terrors, may to- 
morrow be speaking of their " loved and loft." 
The towering fabric of human happinefs, which 
is now rapidly uprearing, may, in the twinkling 
of an eye, become a mafs of ruins. 

But if " weeping endure for the night," 
"joy cometh in the morning." Yet a little 
while, mourning believer! and you will shed 
your laft tear, heave your laft pang. Once 
enter that peaceful haven, and not one wave 
of trouble shall ever afterwards roll. The very 
fountain of your tears will be dried. Your re- 
membrance of all the tribulations of the nether 
world will be like the vifions of some unquiet 
dream of an earthly night, which the gladfome 
sunfhine of morning has difpelled, the confufed 
memories of which are all that remain. "And 
ihere shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for 
the former things are paffed away" (Rev. xxi. 4.) 

Here our trials are needed. The angel has to 
come down " to trouble the waters," in order to 



6 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

make us senfible of his prefence. It is when the 
pool is dijiurbed we see moft of our God. But 
in heaven, though the Great Angel will be ever 
prefent, there will be no more waters to trouble. 
It is " a sea ofglafs." The laft ripple of the laft 
murmuring billow will break upon the shores 
of Jordan, and "immediately" there will be "a 
great calm? 

The Rest of Heaven is a rest which " remaineth? 

Nothing is permanent here. The beft of 
earthly joys are evanefcent ; — like the bubble 
rifing to the surface of the stream, which glitters 
for a moment in the sunfhine in its rainbow-hues, 
and then* is gone, the place that knew it know- 
ing it no more ! But the reft above is eternal; 
— no foe can invade it, no storms can difturb it. 
It is the reft of a final home, over the portals 
of which is written, " Ye shall go no more out" 

Reader, pitch not your tabernacle here ! Yours 
now is, or ought to be, a tent or nomad life. The 
Chriftian is an Arab in the prefent probation 
state. He has no fixed abode. His dwelling is 
conftructed not of stones or enduring material. 



REST. 7 

The rope, and the canvas, and the wooden pins, 
all indicate "the pilgrim and stranger on the 
earth." It is a wildernefs reft. He mull be 
content with wildernefs provifion. If you have 
many sources of earthly happinefs, sit loofely to 
them. Let thefe rills only draw you nearer the 
Fountain-head; — let thefe gifts only unite you 
clofer to the Giver. " He gave them," says 
Richard Baxter, "to be refrefhments in thy jour- 
ney ; and wouldft thou dwell in thy inn, and go 
no further?" Soon He Himfelf — your " exceed- 
ing joy" — will superfede them. The rill will be 
no longer needed when you have the Great 
Source ; the starlight when you have Sunlight ; 
creature-comforts when you have the Infinite 
Prefence. " There remaineth a rest!" Liften to 
this, child of suffering and sorrow! Thou who 
art beaten about now with "a great fight of 
affli6tions," thou wilt soon be at home; — soon 
with God; — and nothing then, evermore, to break 
the trance of thy blifs! Every time the sounding 
line is let down, the refponfe is, " Nearer shore!" 
Sainted ones in that spirit-world, like the birds 
which greet the earthly voyager as he approaches 



8 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

land, are hovering around thee, telling that thy 
Home is at hand — that soon thou shalt furl thy 
sails, and reach the defired haven. " My little 
bark," says one who has now realifed her glow- 
ing anticipations, " is riding serenely through the 
storm, and soon I shall drop my anchor in the 
still waters of eternal rest and glory."-* 

The joys of the Heavenly Rest will be enhanced 
by contrast 

This is one beauteous element in the contem- 
plation of future blifs, which angels know nothing 
of — the joy of contrast. Thefe Bleffed Beings 
never knew what it was to sin or to suffer. Thefe 
glorious Veffels, launched on the " summer seas 
of eternity," never knew what it was to wreftle 
with the tempeft, or, like the shipwrecked 
apoflle, to be "nights and days in the deep" 
of trial. 

The blind man exults in the boon of reftored 

sight, in a way which others who have never 

known its lofs cannot experience. The sick man 

appreciates the return of vigorous health, in a 

* Mrs Winflow's Life. 



REST. 9 

way which others can know nothing of who have 
never felt its privation. The labourer enjoys 
his nightly repofe all the more by contrail with 
the hours of toil which preceded it. The soldier, 
after years of suffering and privation, appreciates 
the mufic of that word u home" as he never could 
have done unlefs he had undergone the terrible 
difcipline of trench, and night-watch, and battle- 
field. 

Will it not be the same with the believer in 
entering on his Reft ? Will not his former expe- 
rience of suffering, and sin, and sorrow, enhance 
all his new-born joys ? It is said of saints, that 
they will be " equal to the angels." In this refpetSt 
they will be superior! The angel never knew 
what it was to have an eye dimmed with tears, 
or to be covered with the soil of conflict. He 
never can know the exquifite beauty of that Bible 
pi6lure (none but the weeping pilgrim of earth 
can underftand or experience it) where, as the 
climax of heavenly blifs, God is reprefented 
as u wiping away all tears from their eyes ! " 
Beautiful thought ! The weary ones from the 
pilgrim-valley seated by the calm river of life, 



10 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

bathing their temples — laving their wounds — 
ungirding their armour ; — the duft of battle for 
ever wafhed away; — and liftening to the pro- 
clamation from the inner sanctuary — the soft 
strain stealing down from the Sabbath-bells of 
glory — " The days of your mourning are ended T 
(Isa. lx. 20.) 

Chriftian, has this glorious reft the place in 
your thoughts it ought to occupy ? Are you 
delighting to have frequent Pifgah-glimpfes of 
this Land of Promife ? Are you living as the 
inheritor and heir of such a bleffed immor- 
tality, "declaring plainly" that you "seek a 
better country?" 

How sad, how strange, that the eye of faith 
should be dimmed to thefe glorious realities by 
the fugitive and paffing things of senfe. Gro- 
vellers that we are ! with all this wealth of glory 
within reach — with thefe deathlefs spirits claim- 
ing to outlive all time — that we should suffer the 
seen and the temporal to eclipfe the splendours 
of eternal day! "Reader, look to thyfelf, and 
refolve the queftion ; afk confcience, and suffer 
it to tell thee truly that thou put thine eternal 



REST. 1 1 

reft before thine eyes as the great bufinefs thou 
haft to do in this world. Haft thou watched 
and laboured with all thy might that no man 
take thy crown?"* 

Sit no longer cowering in darknefs when light 
is streaming from your Father's windows and 
inviting you upwards. A few more rolling suns 
— a few more swings of Time's pendulum — and 
the world's curfew-bell will toll, announcing the 
Sabbath of eternity has come. Seek reft in Chrift 
now. Flee to the crevices of the Rock of Ages 
now, if you would neftle for ever in the golden 
eaves of the eternal Temple. Be ever sitting on 
the edge of your nest, pluming yourfelf for flight; 
— so that when death comes, " with wings like a 
dove" — the celeftial plumage of faith, and hope, 
and love — you may soar upwards to the Sabbath 
of your God, and be at rest FOR EVER! 
* Baxter. 




II. 





" A little while the fetters hold no more. 
The spirit long enthrall' d is free to soar, 
And takes its joyful flight, 
On radiant wings of light, 
Up to the throne, to labour or adore ! " 

"They reft not day and night." — Rev. iv. 8. 

IHAT a seeming paradox is this! We 
laft contemplated Heaven under the 
beautiful and significant figure of a state 
of rest; — here it is spoken of as a state of unrest! 
"They reft"— "They reft not." It is what the" 
old writers quaintly defignate, " The rest without 
a rest!' The combination of thefe two simili- 
tudes involves no inconfiftency ; they bring to- 
gether two different but not antagoniftic ele- 
ments of earthly happinefs, which will have their 
higheft exemplification in the blifs of a perfefl 
world. 



14 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

The emblem suggefts two views of a future 
Heaven — 

Firjl, It is a state of ceafelefs activity in the 
service of God. 

Conftituted as we now are, a condition of lift- 
leffnefs and inactivity is moft inimical to true 
happinefs. Indeed, if we can judge from the 
references in Scripture to the conftitution of 
higher and nobler natures, we are led to infer 
that activity is a great normal law among the 
loftieft orders of intelligent being. Angels and 
archangels, cherubim and seraphim, the " burn- 
ing ones and the shining ones," are " minijiering 
spirits," engaged in untiring errands of love to 
redeemed man, and probably alio to other pro- 
vinces in God's vaft empire ; nay, with reverence 
be it said, the Great God Himfelf is ever putting 
forth the unceafing activities of His omnipotence. 
"He thatkeepeth Ifrael neither slumbers nor sleeps!' 
"My Father" said Chrift, " worketh hitherto, 
and I workr It is sublimely said of Him, "He 
fainteth not, neither is zveary" (Ps. cxxi. 4; John 
v. 17; Ifa. xl. 28.) 

The human spirit has the same lofty heritage 



CEASELESS ACTIVITY. 1 5 

Activity is linked with pure and unfullied enjoy- 
ment. The very curfe of labour and the sweat 
of the brow — the birthright of toil — is the birth- 
right of mercy. A philofopher of ancient times 
said, if he had truth in his grafp, he would open 
his hand and let it fly away that he might en- 
joy the purfuit of it. Transfer this to heaven. 
There the law and love of activity wall still be a 
governing principle among the spirits of the 
glorified ; and in this we shall be affimilated to 
the " living ones" whofe very name indicates the 
ardour of their holy being. " They rest not/" 
There will be no more of the laffitude and lan- 
guor of earth. Here our bodies are clogs and 
hindrances to mental a<5tivity. There the glori- 
fied frame will be a help and auxiliary to the 
ecftatic soul. Here the remains of indwelling 
corruption is like the chained corpse which cri- 
minals of old were compelled to drag behind 
them. It elicits the mournful cry, " O wretched 
man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this 
body of death ? " (Rom. vii. 24.) That soliloquy 
will be heard no more in the " better country." 
There, every chain will be unloofed, and the un- 



l6 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

caged spirit soar upwards unhampered by the 
impediments of its earthly coil. 

Glorious defcription ! " They serve Him day 
and night; 1 (Rev. vii. 15.) No more paufes from 
wearinefs or faintnefs ; no more fitful frames and 
feelings. It has been said of God's people in the 
prefent world, " Though they do not weary of 
their Matter's work, they often weary in the 
work." Their experience is impreffively given 
in the Song of Solomon, when the Church, or 
believer in his earthly state, is reprefented as 
saying, "/ sleep, hit my heart waketh" (Cant. v. 2) 
— worldly cares and bufinefs and engroffments 
chaining down the soul, and inducing a state of 
drowfy infenfibility. But there, they shall not 
require to " lift tip the hands that hang down, and 
the feeble knees^ (Heb. xii. 12;) no more waking 
up refrefhed from the repofe of exhaufted nature 
— no more complaining that " the spirit is will- 
ing, but the flefh is weak;' (Matt. xxvi. 41.) If 
any of us have felt the pleafurablenefs of doing 
good, even in a prefent imperfect, chequered 
world, what will — what mujl this feeling be, 
in a state of holy a6livity, with no sin or 



CEASELESS ACTIVITY. I J 

weaknefs to reprefs our ardour or damp our 
energies ? 

And let us note the chief ingredient, the 
grand element, in this state of ceafelefs employ- 
ment. It will be the service of God. " They 
rest not day nor night" uttering the threefold 
afcription to a Triune- Jehovah — Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit — "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord 
God of hofls" (Ifa. vi. 3.) If activity be an effen- 
tial element in true happinefs, surely that happi- 
nefs will be enhanced by the attra6livenefs of 
the service in which it is our privilege to be 
engaged. An earthly servant, poffeffed of an 
honourable nature, would feel himfelf obligated 
to perform work faithfully and confcientioufly 
even to a bad mafter ; but how would his joy in 
the performance of his duty be increafed by the 
confcioufnefs that he was serving some lofty 
and beneficent spirit who was an ornament to 
his station and revered by all ? If we carry this 
law to the pinnacle of all greatnefs and moral 
excellence, surely here will be the crown and 
confummation of creature-happinefs — cheerful 
duty in the service of Him whofe favour is life ! 



1 8 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

What is the trueft source of joy to an earthly- 
child ? Is it not by a<5tive duty, as well as by 
paffive obedience, fulfilling his parent's wifhes ? 
Will he not even suffer much for the parent he 
loves ? The earthly relationship is in this, as in 
many other refpects, a beautiful type of the 
heavenly. What pure and unfullied delight will 
it afford the sainted spirit to be engaged con- 
stantly in doing the will of Him who is better 
and kinder than the beft of earthly parents ! 
Look at Him who, being "very man" as well as 
u very God," underftood all the tendereft senfibi- 
lities of the human heart ! What was the great 
(shall we say, the only) joy which brightened the 
pilgrimage of the Man of Sorrows ? What was 
the one source of pureft, ineffable delight to 
Him, as he toiled on His blood-stained path ? 
Was it not the elevating confcioufnefs of doing 
His heavenly Father's will ? — " My meat is to do 
the will of Him that sent me, and to finijli His 
work /" (John iv. 34.) We are always moft will- 
ing to serve thofe we love moft. With what 
bounding joy, then, shall we embark in heaven 
on errands of a6live service, when we shall there 



CEASELESS ACTIVITY. 1 9 

have unfolded to us (what we here know so little 
of) the unfpeakable love of Him who for us 
spared not His own, His only Son ! Oh, what 
a motive will there be here for all the energies of 
the glorified body, and all the faculties of the 
glorified spirit ; — to love, and serve, and honour, 
and adore Him, around whom our deepeft affec- 
tions are centred, and our heart of hearts en- 
twined ; — getting ever nearer Him and liker 
Him, — gazing more intently on His matchlefs 
perfections — diving more into the ocean-depths 
and myfteries of His love, and becoming the 
channels of conveyance of that love to others ! 
Then, indeed, will duty be turned into enjoy- 
ment, and supreme and unfwerving devotednefs 
to His service be its own beft reward. 

It will be a confecration, too, not only of un- 
fettered, unclogged, unwearied powers ; there 
will be the still further element of a pure and 
single-eyed devotednefs, which earth never knew. 
Here, alas ! in the holieft activities of the prefent 
state of being, there are ever, even when we our- 
selves may be infenfible to them, the exiftence 
of mingled motives. Wretched self, in its thou- 



20 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

sand infidious forms, so imperceptibly creeps 
in, marring and mutilating our beft endeavours 
to pleafe God. Our beft offerings are full of 
blemifhes — our beft thoughts are polluted with 
low, grovelling cares. But there l self will for 
ever be dethroned. This ufurping Dagon will 
then be broken for ever in pieces before the pre- 
sence of the true Ark, in that temple wherein 
"there is nothing that defileth." God's glory 
will then be the one grand, abforbing, and ter- 
minating obje6l of all defires and all afpirations; 
— then, for the firft time in reality, shall we come 
to realife and exemplify that great truth, which 
many from their infancy have had on their lips 
— " Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to en- 
joy Him for ever." 

Thus will aflive and ceafelefs occupation in 
the service of God form one of the sweeteft em- 
ployments and sources of happinefs in the upper 
sandluary. "They reft," in a bleffed abfence 
from all sin, all suffering, all trial. " They reft 
not" in the lofty behefts and engagements ox 
holinefs. Believers are called in this world by 
the name of "servants" "workmen," "husband- 



CEASELESS ACTIVITY. 21 

men." They will still retain thefe same defig- 
nations of aftive duty. " His servants" we read. 
" shall serve Him" (Rev. xxii. 3.) God, in every 
portion of His wide univerfe, seems to work by 
creature agency. He does not require to do so. 
A simple volition of His sovereign will would 
suffice to fulfil His counfels as effectually as if 
never an angel sped on his embaffy of love ! 
But as on earth He accomplices His purpofes 
in His Church by human agency, and as in 
Heaven He employs angelic agency, — thofe who 
"excel in strength" "doing His commandments, 
hearkening unto the voice of His word," — so it 
would seem, as if in merciful confideration for 
the happinefs of His glorified saints, He is to 
make this a permanent law through eternity ; so 
that Heaven will be only a development of the 
prefent condition of Grace — with this single, but 
important difference, that there will be no sin. 

Indeed, it is this very idea of Heaven as a 
state of action, that brings out the beauty of the 
former reprefentation as a state of rest. Rest, to 
be enjoyed, suppofes previous a6livity or labour; 
and although it can have no such relation in a 



22 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

place where wearinefs and fatigue are unknown, 
we can readily carry out the beautiful idea of 
Pollok, in his " Courfe of Time," of the ranfomed 
spirit retiring from the loud hallelujahs around 
the throne, to hold its silent meditations apart 
by " the living fountains of waters :" — this, how- 
ever, only for a time; — once more to return with 
unflagging and unabated energy to refume the 
song, and speed on new errands of love. 

Reader, is this your anticipation of Heaven? 
— Heaven, not as it is pictured in the dreams 
of the sentimental or contemplative Chriftian ; — 
not a drowfy Mohammedan paradife — a state of 
torpor and inaftion ; but as it is known to angels, 
who are now, though unfeen to us, travelling 
down to our world in ceafelefs agencies of love 
and comfort ? Do we realife this, and in realifmg 
the grand truth, are we training for thefe lofty 
duties ?— ready to take the angels' place, or to 
join the angels' company, on similar miniftries 
to some other diftant provinces of creation ? 
What the poet has said of the prefent life is as 
true of its glorious counterpart hereafter — 
" Life is real, life is earned." 



CEASELESS ACTIVITY. 23 

Reft not until you have attained a well- 
grounded affurance that this future state of 
a6live bleffednefs is to be yours ; — that you are 
looking for it, preparing for it, ready for it. Teft 
your meetnefs for the Heaven that is before you 
by the queftion, Do I delight now in energetic 
employment in the service of my God ? Is 
prayer a seafon of refrefhing ? Does praife call 
into willing and gladfome exercife all the re- 
newed affeftions of a heaven-born nature ? Is 
the Sabbath a joyful paufing-place in life's 
chequered journey ; — not a mere interlude of re- 
pofe for the tired and jaded body after the in- 
ceffant toils and cares of the week, but the day 
which summons into exercife the loftier activities 
of my nobler being ? Do I spend it under the 
feeling of Eternity being an everlajling Sabbath, 
and that everlafting Sabbath occupied in some 
perfonal miniftry of holinefs and love ? In this 
life there should, at leaft, be affimilations to the 
life hereafter. Though not in degree, it should 
be the same in kind. If aftivity in a little child 
gives indication of the energy and refolution of 
the man, so aftivity in the service of God, in a 



24 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

state of grace, will be the pledge and earneft of 
nobler a<5tivities in a state of glory. 

" O bleffed reft ! when we ( reft not day and 
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al- 
mighty ! ' — when we shall reft from sin, but not 
from worfhip — from suffering and sorrow, but 
not from joy! O bleffed day! when I shall 
reft with God — when I shall reft in knowing, 
loving, rej oicing, and praifmg ! — when my per- 
fect soul and body shall together perfeftly enjoy 
the moft perfedl God — when God, who is love 
itfelf, shall perfectly love me, and reft in His 
love to me, and I shall reft in my love to Him — 
when He shall rejoice over me with joy, and joy 
over me with singing, and I shall rejoice in 

Him."* 

* Baxter. 




III. 





" Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 
Is our deftined end or way; 
But to act that each to-morrow 
Finds us further than to-day." 

" They reft not day and night." — Rev. iv. 8. 

[E have already regarded this defcription 
of the Redeemed in heaven — "They reft 
not" — as denoting a condition of ceafe- 
lefs employment in the service of God. 

We may confider it now as suggefting a state 
of continual progrefs. 

If we have found activity to be a law of our 
nature, we may affert the same, with equal truth, 
with reference to progrefs. The mind is ever 
afpiring after advancement. " Not as though I 
had already attained" is the utterance not merely 
of the renewed spiritual nature ; — it is the voice 



26 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

of man's reftlefs spirit in all the varied phafes 
and conditions of humanity. It is exemplified 
in every-day life. Without the confcioufnefs of 
advancement we have not a perfect idea of 
happinefs. 

Who does not feel, for example, a ceafelefs 
and ever-increafing afpiration after more know- 
ledge? This is all the more remarkable, too, in 
the cafe of thofe who have made the largeft 
acquifitions in human learning.* The range of 
their acquirements, inftead of satisfying, seems 
rather to whet their appetite for more ; so that 
the nobleft and moft gifted of the human spe- 
cies, — our Lockes, and Bacons, and Newtons, — 
are thofe who are alike moft confcious of the 
limited range of present knowledge, and moft 
ardently defirous of adding to their intellectual 
wealth. 

Transfer this to Heaven. There, there will 
be a conftant afpiration after increafed know- 
ledge, holinefs, love, and refemblance to God. 
All our prefent mental capacities will doubtlefs 
be indefinitely expanded on our entrance into 

* See Whately's " Revelations on a Future State." 



CONTINUAL PROGRESS. 2J 

blifs ; but this will be only a frefh starting- 
point for loftier acquifitions. The soul and its 
glorified afpirations will be like the sun " coming 
forth from his chamber, and rejoicing like a 
strong man to run his race ; " ever climbing the 
firmament, yet never reaching the meridian ; 
coming nearer and nearer " the excellent glory," 
and yet still speaking of it as "light inacces- 
sible!" 

We have some pledge or foretafte given us of 
this advancement, even in our prefent spiritual 
state. The renewed man goes " from strength 
to strength ; " he advances in the divine life ; he 
becomes more and more " meet," by the trans- 
forming powder of the Holy Spirit, for the hea- 
venly inheritance. May we not warrantably 
infer from analogy, that this advancement will 
not be arrefted, but rather increafed and carried 
on in a mightier ratio ? " If grace," says the 
author of the " Saint's Reft," " makes a Chriftian 
differ so much from what he was, as to say, ' I 
am not the man I was;' how much more will 
glory make us differ! Doubtlefs as God ad- 
vanceth our senfes and enlargeth our capacity, 



28 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

so will He advance the happinefs of thofe senfes, 
and fill up with Himfelf all that capacity." 

Add to all this — this element of progreffion 
will be in one direction. Not as on earth, where 
there was alfo a law of perpetual progrefs, but 
it was often a doivnward progrefs, — where the 
aphorifm, " Knowledge is power," had, alas ! too 
often the fatal interpretation attached to it of 
a power for evil ; not bringing the heart nearer 
God, but aflimilating it more with the fiend, 
enlarging the intellect only for its degradation. 
But the advancement of the soul, in all the 
future phafes of its moral and spiritual being, 
will be entirely God-wards. — It will be the eagle's 
flight, soaring ever upward, nearer the sun, till 
loft in the blaze of " the excellent glory." 

God is alone of all beings unchangeable. He 
is as incapable of any addition to His effential 
glory and happinefs, as thefe are incapable of 
detraction. — " He is without variablenefs or the 
leajl shadow of turning" (James i. 17.) The 
devils in a loft state are subje6l to a continual 
and progreffive change y but it is a downward and 
progreffive deterioration ; with the sainted spirit 



CONTINUAL PROGRESS. 2g 

it will be entirely amelioration. While the others 
are sinking deeper and deeper in the abyfs of 
woe, or retreating into wider and more eccentric 
orbits from the great central Sun of all light and 
happinefs, the redeemed will ever be narrowing 
their orbits, coming nearer and nearer the great 
central throne. 

Reader, you are lifping here only the alphabet 
of knowledge ; you know nothing as you are 
yet to know. Heaven will be, in a nobler senfe 
than ever was realifed on earth, a student life. 
The angels, we read, " defire to look into " the 
myfteries of salvation. They " stoop over " (as 
the w r ord literally means) this vaft volume in the 
archives of eternity. You will then unite with 
thefe principalities and powers in talking your 
immortal intellect with frefh difcoveries of " the 
manifold wifdom of God." We know that thofe 
saints on earth who have attained moft know- 
ledge of God, are thofe who have longed with 
greateft ardour to know more of Him. Though 
Mofes had seen more of His glory than others, 
his prayer is, " / beseech thee, shew me thy glory" 
(Exodus xxxiii. 18.) Davids whofe thirft had 



30 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

been quenched more than mod at the Fountain 
of infinite love and excellence, is heard exclaim- 
ing, " My soul thirjleth for God" (Psalm xlii. 2.) 
Pauly who had soared to the third heaven, and 
who " counted all tilings but lofs for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Chrijl" (Phil. iii. 8,) still 
prays, like a lifping learner, "■ that I may know 
Him;' (Phil. iii. io.) 

Nor will it be one theme only that will engrofs 
and engage the saints' glorified powers and acti- 
vities. We muft not think of Heaven as some 
startling and violent revolution of prefent taftes, 
and studies, and occupations ; as if we shall then 
be no longer the beings we once were, and be 
able to find no traces of perfonal identity. Our 
feelings, our taftes, our studies, may poffibly and 
will poffibly continue the same as they were, 
only glorified, san6tified, and purified from the 
drofs of sin ! May we not there poffibly de- 
light still to unravel the myfterie's of science, 
the laws which govern a renovated creation ; or 
to ponder the story of Providence paft ; — this, 
too, not confined to one atom-world, but as un- 
folded in God's works and ways in other pro- 
vinces of His empire ? The very feelings and 



CONTIN UAL PROGRESS. 3 1 

affeftions, alfo, of our prefent nature (the beft, at 
leaft, and nobleft of them) will not be quenched 
or annihilated ; they will, on the contrary, have 
vafter objefts and loftier spheres for their exer- 
cife. Take, for example, apparently the moft 
airy and vifionary of all our prefent emotions, 
HOPE. Hope will not perifli with the prefent 
preliminary state. Poetry, under a beautiful im- 
perfonation, has truthfully reprefented her as 
relighting her torch "at nature's funeral pile/' 
It is, in one senfe indeed, true, that Hope will 
then be changed into fruition ; all diftradting 
fears and mifgivings will ceafe. The hope of eter- 
nal life, the hope full of immortality, the hope of 
being with God and His Chrift, which in our 
moments of depreffion and faithleffnefs was 
clouded here, that hope will be " swallowed up " 
in complete fulfilment. But many of theprefe?it 
joyous elements of hope will still remain ; — the 
hope of reaching higher degrees of perfeftion, 
the hope of acquiring deeper and yet deeper 
views of the charafter and glory of Him who is 
paft finding out ; the hope of becoming more 
and more affimilated to His holy image, climb- 
ing higher and higher the altitudes of blifs, and 



32 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

obtaining a wider and still wider sweep of the 
moral landscape that grows upon our view with 
the widening horizon. 

I love that beautiful defcription of Heaven, 
as the "rest" of God's people ; when the clarion 
of battle is hufhed, — every storm-cloud paft, — 
every weary night-watch at an end, — the spirit 
cradled in perfect peace, — the Sabbath of eter- 
nity ! But more elevating and glorious still 
seems the defcription of Heaven as a place 
of endlefs and ceafelefs progreffion ; the spirit 
making giant advances in all that is pure, and 
lovely, and godlike ; ever adding to the domain 
of knowledge ; having new and more w r ondrous 
revelations of the Divine character and attri- 
butes ; — comprehending more and more the 
myfteries and secrets of Redeeming love, and yet 
thefe myfteries growing with every frefh difco- 
very ; still speaking of its " heights and depths," 
its " lengths and breadths/' and these as " pafs- 
ing underftanding ! " 




IV. 




9$an? 9£aiisffoii& 



"All our earthly journey paft, 

Every tear and pain gone by, 
Here together met at laft, 

In the manfions of the sky, 
Each the welcome c Come'' awaits, 

Conqueror over death and sin ; 
Lift your heads, ye golden gates, 

Let the ranfom'd travellers in !" 

" In my Father's houfe there are many manfions."— 
John xiv. 2. 




[ANSIONS "— " many manfions "— " a 

houfe " — " my Fathers houfe." How 

many reflections are crowded into this 

one brief utterance of our gracious Redeemer ! 

With what a homelike afpeft do they invert our 

every thought of Heaven ! They were among 

His laft words ; He Himfelf was on His way to 

that peaceful " homeftead " of which He speaks. 

c 



34 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Let us gather around Him, with the houfe of 
His Father in sight, and tafte this Efhcol grape 
which He himfelf plucks from the borders of 
the Heavenly Canaan. 

The verfe speaks of MULTIPLICITY — "many 
manfions." 

Had He been addreffing His own difciples 
alone, the affurance would have been sufficient, 
" There will be a home for each of -you? But 
He is difcourfing for all time. His omnifcient 
eye difcerned at that moment the unborn my- 
riads whom this chapter and this verfe were to 
confole and cheer. He would, therefore, certify 
that there is abundant provifion made for all — 
patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs ; — from the 
time that righteous Abel bent alone, a righteous, 
redeemed saint, before the throne — the firft sheaf 
of a mighty harvefh — until the garners be filled, 
and the song of the ranfomed become " as the 
voice of much people, and as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings," 
(Rev. xix. 6.) He is to bring "many sons unto 
glory." There is grace for all — crowns fo\ all — 
manfions for all ! Heaven has been filling for 



MANY MANSIONS. 35 

six thoufand years, and still there is room. 
How different its " recompenfe of reward " from 
worldly crowns and worldly honours ! In the 
earthly race " many run, but one (only) receiveth 
the prize," (1 Cor. ix. 24.) In the heavenly the 
competition is open to " whofoever will." There 
is no jarring of interefts in this loftier arena. 
The glorification of one is not attained there at 
the expenfe of another's downfall or exclufion. 
The manfions are many. The candidates are a 
mighty multitude which no man can number. 
Believer ! "so run that you may obtain !" 

The verfe speaks of PERMANENCY — they are 
" manjions" 

The word in the original (/jlovol) is not a tent 
or temporary tabernacle, but a durable refidence, 
never to be altered or demolifhed. The moft 
graphic of Eaftern travellers thus gives a de- 
scription of tent-life, which, by contrail, affords 
the befb illuftration of the manfion-life of hea- 
ven : " When the cold, sullen morning dawned, 
and my people began to load the camels, I 
always felt loth to give back to the wafte this 
little spot of ground, that had flowed for a while 



36 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

with the cheerfulnefs of a human dwelling. My 
tent was spared to the laft, but when all elfe was 
ready for the start, then came its fall. The 
p%s were drawn, the canvas shivered, and in 
lefs than a minute there was nothing that re- 
mained of my genial home, but only a pole and 
a bundle." * 

" The tents of the Eaft," says another,f " sel- 
dom remain long in the same place. The tra- 
veller ere£ts his temporary abode for the night, 
takes it down in the morning, and journeys 
onward. The shepherds of the country are also 
always moving from one place to another. The 
brook fails on which they relied for water, or the 
grafs required for the support of their flocks is 
confumed, and they wander on to a new station. ,, 

How strikingly illuftrative is this of the Bible 
figure, "the houfe of our earthly tabernacle" 
being "diffolved" (or taken down), (2 Cor. v. 1.) 
The framework of mortality, like the Arab tent, 
is upreared for a time, but, after subferving its 
temporary purpofe, it is, pin by pin, demolifhed, 
and the place that once knew it knows it no more. 
* " Eothen." f Profeffor Hackett. 



MANY MANSIONS. 37 

Not so the ever-during manfions of our 
Father's houfe. They are " incorruptible " and 
" eternal in the heavens." No failing of brooks 
there! No joys withered and smitten there, 
like the grafs of the wildernefs. "The Lamb 
that is in the midft of the throne shall feed them, 
and lead them to living fountains of waters," 
(Rev. vii. 17.) Ah! it is the saddeft, the mod 
humiliating feature of the joys of earth, that, 
however pure, noble, elevating they may be at 
the moment, there is no calculating on their per- 
manency. The mind will, in spite of itfelf, be 
haunted with the dark poffibility of the ruthlefs 
invader of all happinefs coming and dafhing the 
full cup in a thoufand fragments on the ground. 
In Heaven no shadow of viciffitude or change 
can ever enter to dim an ever-brightening future. 
Once within that heavenly fold, w T e are in the 
fold for ever. On the lintels of the eternal man- 
sion are infcribed the words, " Ye shall go no 
more out." Our happinefs and joy will be as 
immutable and stable as everlafhing love and 
power and faithfulnefs can make them. 

The verfe speaks of DIVERSITY — there are 



38 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

" many manfions ; " — not only many in number, 
but manifold in their degrees of glory. 

All will be happy. A halo of unutterable 
blifs and glory will encircle each separate dwell- 
ing, beyond what eye hath seen, or ear heard, or 
heart conceived. But as " one star differeth from 
another star in glory," so, alfo, we have reafon to 
believe, there will be gradations in the scale of 
future bleffednefs. 

The allufion here is evidently to the different 
courts of the Jewilh temple. Thefe were diverfe 
in name and chara6ler. The outer and inner 
courts, the court of the Gentiles, the courts of 
the priefts, the Holy of Holies. All thefe were 
confecrated as portions of the same " Houfe of 
the Lord." The lowlieft Ifraelite was within 
sight of the altar, and within hearing of the 
High Prieft's benedi6lion. But there were some 
courts more hallowed and glorious than others, 
— their sacrednefs increafing the nearer the wor- 
shipper approached the place where dwelt the 
myftic Shekinah. It will be the same with the 
" many manfions " of the Heavenly Temple. All 
the vaft multitude in the new Jerufalem will be 



MANY MANSIONS. 39 

within range of the benediction of the Great 
High Prieft, and as such they muft be bleffed. 
But there will be "inner courts'' and enclofures 
of greater honour and glory. The more intenfe 
and exalted his love and devotednefs on earth, 
the nearer will the believer be permitted to ap- 
proach the Holieft of all, — the nearer admiffion 
will he have to the Father's prefence, and receive 
the more diftinguifhing badges of the Father's 
love. There will be one manfion for him whofe 
pound hath " gained five pounds," and another 
manfion for him whofe pound hath " gained ten 
pounds." Each, too, will be apportioned accord- 
ing to some earthly antecedents. There will be 
the special manfion of the martyr, who was borne 
from his earthly tent in the chariot of fire. There 
will be the special manfion of the miffronary, 
who surrendered home, eafe, worldly honour, in 
his noble embaffy, and ftood alone and unbe- 
friended on Pagan shores, witneffing for a de- 
spifed Saviour. There will be the manfion for 
the minifter of Chrift, who boldly proclaimed 
the meffage of life and death. There will be the 
manfion for the Sabbath-fchool teacher, who 



40 CRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

toiled to bring youthful trophies to the foot of 
the crofs. There will be the manfion for the 
pining sufferer, who glorified God by patience 
and unmurmuring refignation ; — for the child, 
that fell on earth a withered bloffom, whofe tent 
was taken down "while it was yet day/' but re- 
constructed into a building of God eternal in the 
heavens. There will be a manfion for the old 
veteran of the crofs, the champion in a hundred 
battles of the faith ; and for the youthful soldier, 
who was only buckling on his armour when 
summoned from the earthly struggle. 

The leaft in the kingdom, I repeat, will have 
bleffednefs to the full — a glory and a joy which 
leaves no void or vacuum. As in the terreftrial, 
so in the celeftial firmament. Though every 
planet circling round the Sun of Deity will shine 
with a borrowed splendour, yet the larger the 
planet, and the nearer its orbit is to its grand 
centre, the greater will be its radiance and glory. 
Though every flower will in itself be perfect, 
reflecting the lovely Iries and tints of heaven, 
yet they will be of diverfe form and colour. 
Some will dififufe a sweeter fragrance, or clufter 
in larger and richer groups than others. But all, 



MANY MANSIONS. 41 

large and small, the saint a hundred years old 
and the child tranflated in infancy, will (notwith- 
standing this diverfity) have the same quality of 
blifs. The planet at the outfkirts of the hea- 
venly sphere and that neareft the centre will be 
bathed in one and the same rays of ineffable glory. 

But whil<? the verfe speaks of Diverfity, it 
speaks alfo of Unity. 

There will be diverfity in unity, and unity in 
diverfity. The Church triumphant is one houfe. 
The Church on earth, alas ! is a houfe divided 
againft itfelf — church divided againft church — 
Chriftian againft Chriftian. Nominally the chil- 
dren of one Father, but dwelling in separate 
tabernacles. One saying, " I am of Paul," and 
another, " I of Apollos." Nominally pilgrims 
on one road, traverfmg the same wildernefs, but 
each keeping his own peculiar and separate 
pathway, journeying on often with no look of 
kindly recognition exchanged, as if they were 
aliens and foreigners, inftead of brethren and 
sifters in a common Lord. 

But in yonder bright and happy home, dis- 
cord, divifion, separation will be known no more. 
Once within that sacred portal, the exclamation 



42 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

will pafs from tongue to tongue — " What ! so 
long together on the pilgrimage, and maintain- 
ing a cold and chilling referve and alienation ! 
Alas ! is it only now we are to begin to know 
what we should have known ages ago, 'how 
good and how pleafant a thing it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity ! ' " 

Ye who are mourning over thefe sad estrange- 
ments in the Church of God, rejoice at this glo- 
rious profpedt. All shall be one then ! One 
house — one home — one Father — one Elder Bro- 
ther — one motive for praife — one theme for eter- 
nal song — a united Church under its one glorious 
and glorified Head ! 

" At Home with Jefus ! He who went before, 
For His own people Manfions to prepare ; 

The soul's deep longings still' d, its conflicts o'er, 
All reft and blefsednefs with Jefus there. 

What Home like this can the wide earth afford? 

* So shall we be for ever with the Lord.' " 





" What though the tempefl rage — 

Heaven is my home ! 
Short is my pilgrimage — 

Heaven is my home ! 
And Time's wild wintry blaft 
Soon shall be overpaft ; 
I shall reach Home at lafl — ■ 

Heaven is my home !" 

a In my Father's houfe there are many manfions." — 
John xiv. 2. 

| ! N our laft, we confidered the " many 
i manfions" of coming glory as betoken- 
ing Multiplicity — Permanency — Diverfity 
— Unity. 

Let us revert to the same figure, as still fur- 
ther suggeftive of SAFETY. 

Where can a child be so safe as in his Father's 
houfe? Trials, bufferings, difcouragements, un- 




44 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

kindnefs he may experience elfewhere, here at 
leaft he is secure and happy. 

What mufic is there even on earth in that 
word "Home!" The garner of happinefs — the 
haunt of tender affeftions — the cherilher of bright 
hope — the hallowed spot where the spent spirit's 
weary wing folds itfelf to reft — the glad retreat 
in " the dark and cloudy day." What muft be 
the Home of Heaven ? With what surpaffmg 
tendernefs does that one word invert thefe many 
manfions, "My Father's houfe!" and how does 
it link us to the Saviour, when He thus addreffes 
each heavenward and homeward-bound pilgrim 
— " My Father and your Father, my God and 
your God I" (John xx. 17.) 

To enter Heaven, the dwelling-place of the 
great Jehovah, — to be ufhered into the prefence- 
chamber of " the High and Lofty One who in- 
habiteth eternity!" — there might be much to awe 
and overwhelm the spirit in such a contemp- 
lation. But this beauteous home-word deprives 
it of all its awfulnefs, and inverts it with all that 
is winning and captivating. Each believer, in 
the profpe6t of thefe bright manfions, may, 



MANY MANSIONS. 45 

without irreverence, adopt the words of the 
Redeemer, and say, " If ye loved me, ye 
would rejoice, becaufe I said, I go unto ( my 
Father: " 

Would that we oftener realifed Heaven as 
such ; and, amid earth's troubles and viciffitudes 
and sorrows, were led to regard every new trial, 
every new epoch of exiftence, every returning 
week and month and anniverfary, as frefh chimes 
of celeftial mufic floating from the towers of 
glory, and sounding in our ears, " Nearer home, 
nearer home!" Our Lord has taught us, while 
we " defire " in our daily prayer " a better coun- 
try," to make it a^/zVz/afpiration — ' 'Our Father \ 
which art in heaven," " Thy kingdom come." 
Heaven, in the nobleft senfe, is " the Church in 
the Houfe" (Col. iv. 15.) 

The verfe still further speaks of HONOUR. 

It speaks of admiffion into God's prefence, and 
to stand in that prefence in the relation of chil- 
dren to a father. Even to be laid, like Lazarus, 
at the portals of heaven, and fed with the crumbs 
falling from the table, w r ould have been more 
than what, as sinners, we deserve. What will it 



46 GRAPES OF ESIICOL. 

be to be " within the houfe," honoured with a 
place at the Kings own banquet ? 

There are two Greek words (S0OX09 and Scd- 
Kovoi) used in the New r Teftament to defcribe 
the believer's relation to God. Both are signifi- 
cant. The former literally means a slave, and 
such His redeemed child really is. He is the 
willing slave of righteoufnefs, " bought with a 
price" by a gracious Mafter. He feels it to be 
alike his higheft honour and obligation to be 
called " the servant of God." The other word, 
though tranflated by the same term, (servant,) 
has a higher meaning. It has rather reference 
to the believer's heavenly calling. It speaks of 
His lofty defignation and employment in His 
Father's houfe, when He becomes a " miniftering 
one," (John xii. 26.) His earthly service is over — 
" Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends," 
(John xv. 15.) 

" In my Father s JionseT " Yes," said a dying 
believer, as he quoted thefe words ; " our Lord 
tells me, You have been an out-door servant 
long enough, I will now make you an in-door 
servant, and take you out of the wind and rain, 



MANY MANSIONS. 47 

to give you a glorified body and better wages 
and a better manfion." * 

What a wondrous tranfition from the clay 
tenement to the everlafting manfions ! Well 
may the poet exclaim, apoftrophifing the eman- 
cipated spirit : — 

" O change ! O wondrous change ! 
Burfl are the prifon-bars — 
This moment there — so low, 
In mortal prayer — and now, 
Beyond the stars ! 

" O change ! stupendous change ! 
There lies the senfelefs clod — 
The soul from bondage breaks, 
The new immortal wakes, 
Awakes with God ! 5 ' 

Finally, the verfe tells us that all thefe won- 
drous home-manfions JESUS has gone to make 
ready for lis. 

" I go to prepare a place for you." Nay, 
more, He confers them as a right. He speaks 
as the " Heir of all things." Obferve, it is not 
"your Father's houfe," but " my Father's houfe." 
As "the Son of the everlafting God," He seems 

* Memoir of Rev. W. Howels. 



43 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

to say, " I am not afhamed to call you brethren ; 
and for my sake He will not be afhamed to own 
and welcome you as sons and daughters. My 
name, as i the Beloved of the Father/ and my 
work, as the surety Redeemer, w T ill form a paffport 
and title to every room in thefe paternal halls ! " 
The value of a gift is enhanced by the char- 
after and worth of the donor. The gift of an 
earthly sovereign would be highly prized. Here 
is a gift beftowed by the " Prince of the kings 
of the earth," purchafed by blood and toil and 
agony. Thefe blood-bought manfions form the 
crown and confummation of all His other gifts. 
" This is THE gift, that God has given us eternal 
life, and that life is in His Son." " Everything 
elfe that He ' did and taught and suffered/ had 
a reference to the opening of the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers. His coming from heaven 
was to shew heaven to us. His going again there 
was to prepare a place for us. His sitting at the 
right hand of God is to promote our intereft in 
heaven. His coming in judgment is to take us 
back with Him to it." * 

* Dr Manton. 



MANY MANSIONS. 49 

If He be gone " to prepare this place " for us, 
be it ours to endeavour to be prepared for " the 
place;" seeking every returning morning to have 
our tent pitched " a day's march nearer home," 
— nearer the houfe of our Father. " Yet a little 
while, and he that shall come will come, and 
will not tarry," (Heb. x. 37.) " He will not stay," 
says Goodwin, " a minute longer than needs 
muft He tarries only till He hath, throughout 
all ages, by His interceffion, prepared every room 
for each saint, that He may entertain them al- 
together, and have them all about Him." 

And shall w r e paufe to afk, Where is that 
glorious home ? where thefe sparkling waters, 
thefe palms ever green, thefe robes ever bright ? 
Does the spirit at the hour of death wing its 
arrowy flight to some diftant province of crea- 
tion ? Or may Heaven be some myfterious, 
impalpable spirit-world around us? Though we 
hear no gufh of the cryftal waters, and gaze on 
no " city of the cryftal sea," may it not be that 
angel-wings are hovering over us, and that it is 
only thefe dull senfes of ours that hide from us 

the celeftial vifion ? 

D 



50 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

But what though we can defcry no dim out- 
line of the everlafting hills ? What though we 
look in vain for the lights gleaming in the dis- 
tant windows of thefe " many manfions ? " It is 
enough to know that One has gone to prepare 
them for us. And when completed, His voice 
will be heard, saying, " Come, for all things are 
ready ! " " Then shall the righteous shine forth 
as the sun in the kingdom of THEIR FATHER/* 
(Matt. xiii. 43.) 

■' Here in an inn a stranger dwelt, 
Here joy and grief by turns he felt : 
Poor dwelling, now we clofe thy door ! 

The tafk is o'er, 
The sojourners return no more. 

i( Now of a lafling Home poffefl, 
He goes to seek a better reft. 
Yes, for each saint doth Chrift prepare 
A place with care ; 
Thy Home is waiting, brother, there I" 




VI. 




" Haft thou embraced them there, 
Thy kindred, tenants of yon world of blifs ? 

Oh, say — do angels share 
The sympathies so sweetly sown in this ? 
The nurtured 'neath one roof — one native sky- 
Meet they with changelefs love where every tear 

is dry?" 

" And so shall tve ever be with the Lord." — 
i Thess. iv. 17. 




UR fondeft wifhes refpond in the affir- 
mative. The nobleft affections and 
emotions of our immortal natures indorfe 
the poet's utterances. Our Bibles, in manifold 
direct as well as indire<5l paffages, fofter the 
infpiriting hope that the hallowed intimacies of 
earth will be renewed and perpetuated in glory. 
The thought of the loved and loft — now the 
loved and glorified — being " the loved and known 



52 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

again!" — does not this tinge our every antici- 
pation of heaven with a golden hue, and form a 
new and holy link binding us to the throne of 
God! 

Our bleffed Lord Himfelf, alike by His dis- 
courfes and His example, has strengthened our 
belief in the future reunion and recognition of 
saints. He speaks of "Abraham, Ifaac, and 
Jacob" as diftinft perfons in "the Kingdom of 
Heaven," (Matt. viii. u.) He speaks of "the 
beggar" — the identical perfon laid on earth at 
" the rich man's gate " — now in " Abraham's 
bofom," (Luke xvi. 23.) When He comforted the 
hearts of the bereaved sifters of Bethany, His 
confolatory announcement was, not "Lazarus 
shall rife," but "Your brother shall rife again," 
(John xi. 23.) The old hallowed earthly link of 
affeftion was to be reftored at the Great Day; 
— the brother of the earthly was to be known 
and welcomed as brother in the heavenly home! 
On Mount Tabor, Mofes and Elias came down, 
in form and feature the same as they were 
when they dwelt in their earthly tabernacles, 
(Matt. xvii. 3.) Could we venture the strange 



JOYFUL REUNIONS. 53 

conjecture that their recognifed identity was a 
mere accommodation for the ecftatic scene ; — ■ 
that, though known for that little while to 
themfelves and the difciples, when the vifion 
paffed away they again melted into shades — 
their hallowed fellowship ceafing as they returned 
to the spirit-world ? We cannot think so. We 
speak of " the communion of saints " in the 
Church below. We know how bleffed it is when 
in sacred bonds of gofpel fellowfhip, even in a 
world of imperfe<5tion, spirit is linked to spirit. 
Some of the holieft moments of earth are thofe 
in which the children of God "take sweet counfel 
together," and unburden into one another's ears 
the experience of their Lord's faithfulnefs and 
love. Shall all this terminate at the hour of 
death ? Are pilgrim-spirits, who have wept and 
prayed and rejoiced together, — mutual helpers 
till they reached the very gates of glory, — are 
they — juft when the obje6l of their united hopes 
and prayers is attained — when the crown is in 
sight — to exchange a cheerlefs farewell? Are 
they to be permitted to walk to " the houfe of 
God in company" on earth, but forbidden to do 



54 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

so in Heaven? We cannot think so! Shall 
Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus have no happi- 
nefs there in recounting Bethany-scenes of love 
and friendfhip ? Shall the Marys have no won- 
drous joy in retraverfmg in thought their way to 
the tomb ? Shall the difciples (no longer difcon- 
solate) be forbidden to retrace together in glory 
their fteps on the Emmaus road, and at the 
mutual recital, caufe their hearts again to burn 
within them? (Luke xxiv. 32.) We cannot think 
so ! We cannot suppofe that all the rills of 
earth's pureft spiritual enjoyment would thus in 
a moment be so strangely cut off. All one's 
idea of Heaven is, that it is an expanfion and 
amplification of whatever on earth is "pure, 
good, lovely, and of good report." " If it be a 
happinefs," says Baxter, " to live with the saints 
in their imperfe£lion, where they have sin to 
embitter, what will it be to live with them in 
their perfection, when saints are only and wholly 
saints?" On earth, the accidental meetings of 
youth not unfrequently ripen, as years roll on, 
into hallowed intimacies. If we view the pre- 
sent world as the childhood of immortality,— the 



JOYFUL REUNIONS. 55 

infancy of endlefs life, — may we not picture its 
incipient attachments reaching their prime in 
that glorious manhood of being ! The reverfe 
of all we have now said would involve a total 
extinction of the moft exalted feelings of our 
nature. Earthly friendship is one of the flowers 
of heaven, — an exotic growing in the crevices of 
man's rocky heart ; — it will be nurtured (surely 
not extirpated) in its native clime. Jefus Him- 
felf experienced and cherilhed its hallowed 
influence ; — He Himfelf repofed under this soli- 
tary column in the ruined temple of humanity. 
He has left Bethany behind Him as the me- 
morial of the pureft friendlhip earth ever wit- 
neffed ; and while all the difciples were dearly 
loved by Him, there w r ere congenialities and 
idiofyncrafies in the spirit of the "Difciple of 
love" which drew the Mafter to him specially as 
"His own." 

What Jefus hallowed by His own example, 
shall we count it shallowed to cherifh when we 
meet Him and His in glory ? 

Paul invites us to entertain the same confoling 
affurance. He himfelf looked forward to his 



56 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

joy and crown. What was it ? " Ye in the pre- 
sence of the Lord Jefas!" (i Thefs. ii. 19.) "Ye." 
He had individual churches and members of 
thefe churches in his eye. He looked forward 
(can we doubt it?) to retraverfe many a hallowed 
scene in his and their chequered earthly path. 
How fondly he clung to the intimacies of his 
apoftlefhip ! How " his spirit had no reft becaufe 
he found not Titus his brother !" (2 Cor. ii. 13.) 
How Luke lightened his toilfome journey! 
How Epaphroditus and Timothy cheered his 
imprifonment ! How the brethren from Appii 
Forum kindled the waning luftre of his dimmed 
eye! (Acts xxviii. 15.) Shall that sympathetic 
spirit sympathife no more in a better and brighter 
world with thofe with whom he toiled in the 
great work of the apoftolate here? Shall all thofe 
for whom he laboured and travailed until Chrift 
was formed in them, be unknown to him beyond 
the grave ? Is this mighty star to dwell apart 
in the spiritual firmament, and never recognife 
again the many who, by its earthly shining, 
were " turned to righteoufnefs ? " Nay, rather 
may we not think of him as a spiritual father 



JOYFUL REUNIONS. 57 

gathering his myriad children around him in 
glory, rejoicing in the permanency of friend- 
ships, which on earth were oft unftable ? No 
Demas now to forfake him ; — no " prefent evil 
world" to lure from his conftancy. We may 
think of him as the sun of a little " syftem " of 
saints, — redeemed planets cluftering around him, 
— bound to one another by that still closer and 
holier tie which binds them all to Jefus. And, 
juft as aftronomers tell us that our own is a mere 
integral part of a mightier aftral syftem, of which 
Alcyone in the Pleiades is the wondrous centre; 
— so, while they who "turn many to righteous- 
nefs" shall " shine as the fixed stars" (central 
suns) "for ever and ever;" — thefe are but subor- 
dinates — owning the prefence and power of a 
mightier Lord, — the great Alcyone (if we can 
with reverence ufe the simile) of the Heavenly 
syftem, who binds all together by the gravita- 
tion of His own supreme Love ! 

Yes! I fondly cling to the hope (the belief) 
that in Heaven there will be joyful reunions and 
recognitions, in which the tear of bereavement 
shall never more dim the eye, and the tramp of 



58 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

the funeral crowd shall never more be heard. 
To imagine the reverfe would, I repeat, be doing 
violence to all the analogies of earth and all the 
deepefb emotions of our moral and social natures. 
We may exult in the anticipation of pouring into 
other hearts the story of redeeming love, and 
singing " the new song " in concert with voices 
that have been attuned with our own to it here ! 
If even the Patriarchs, the pilgrim-fathers of 
earlier times, exulted at death in the thought 
of being "gathered to their people" shall we, as 
Chriftians, be denuded of this confolatory hope ? 
No, no. The grave will not be permitted to 
efface the memorials of the paft, and deftroy 
our perfonal identity. The refurre6lion-body 
will wear its old smiles of love and tenderness. 
" Them alfo that sleep in Jefus (lit, laid to sleep 
by Jefus) will God bring with Him." It is the 
mother hufhing her infant in its night-cradle, to 
rife the same as it lay down, in the morning- 
light of immortality. Friend will embrace friend, 
— parent will embrace child, — and child embrace 
parent ! 






JOYFUL REUNIONS. 59 

" Oh, when a mother meets on high 
The child she loft in infancy, 
Has she not then, for pains and fears, 
The day of woe — the watchful night — 
For all her sorrows and her tears — 
An overpayment of delight?" 

" So shall WE ever be with the Lord!" It will be 
no dreamy solitude — no hermit life. Ever and 
anon we may imagine groups of the redeemed, 
known to one another on earth, hufhing the 
mufic of the univerfal song, and retiring to hold 
peaceful fellowfhip beside the still fountains of 
water; — there refrefhing their spirits with the 
memories of Time ; — and, after the sacred re- 
citals, returning again to refume, with deeper 
cadence, the lofty anthem. 

Nor need we so limit thefe ennobled friend- 
ships as to reftri6t them to that of contemporary 
and perfonal acquaintance. May we not rather 
picture them as embracing the vaft multitude of 
pious dead, whofe names (though they lived in 
other lands and centuries) are among us as 
" houfeh old words ;" — thofe whofe example has 
animated our faith, quickened our love, and 



60 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

who, though dead, have been long heard to 
speak ! Think of the untold joy of being ufhered 
into the glorified prefence and fellowfhip of such 
as Abraham, and Mofes, and David, and Paul, 
and John! Think of the leffer cloud of wit- 
neffes, in times nearer our own. Sainted men ; 
the modern Stephens who have suffered ; — the 
Enochs who have walked with God ; — burning 
and shining lights, whofe words and deeds have 
embalmed them in our dearefk memories! How 
the heart bounds at the thought of this w r ondrous 
expanfion of friendfhip in its nobleft form ; 
affociated, in the sublime services of the upper 
san£tuary with the Great and Good of every 
succeffive age in the Church's hifhory; — ".the 
glorious company of the apoftles, the goodly 
fellowfhip of the prophets, the noble army of 
martyrs!" We have but traced while on earth 
their "footfteps on the sands of time;" what 
will it be to stand with them on the shores of 
the glaffy sea, and to sing together the "Song of 
Mofes, the servant of God, and the Song of the 
Lamb!" 



JOYFUL REUNIONS. 6l 

Chriftian ! thefe lines may at prefent exprefs 
the sad musings of your defolate heart : — 

" l Silently the shades are falling 
Round my lonely, childlefs door, 
Loved and cherifh'd ones recalling 
Who on earth I '11 meet no more.' 

" Oh, not ' loft/ but c gone before us,' 
They can never be forgot ; 
Heaven's bright manfions shall reftore us, 
In sweet ties which perifh not ! " 

Yes ! Live under the cheering hope of a joyful 
reunion with the white-robed multitude, and the 
dearer and tenderer hope of meeting with thofe 
who on earth have joyed with you in all your 
spiritual joys, and shared with you in your 
sorrows. Think of thofe spoken of as taking 
part in the sublime clofing gofpel invitation— 
" The BRIDE says, Come!" The Bride! It is the 
Church triumphant ! and in that Church beloved 
ones, silent on earth, but whofe beaming spirits 
in "the better land" are beckoning you up- 
wards to exult in ties that shall never know 
diffolution. 



62 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

" Haft thou not glimpfes, in the twilight hour, 
Of mountains where immortal morn prevails ? 
Comes there not, through the silence, to thine ear 
A gentle ruflling of the morning gale — 
A murmur wafted from that glorious shore 
Of streams that water banks for ever fair — 
And voices of the loved ones gone before, 
More mufical in that celeftial air ?" 

They beckon you to frefh ardour in running 
your Chriftian race ! Think of them crowding 
the walls of glory — eager to welcome thofe 
they have left for a little behind them, to buffet 
the wildernefs-storms — waiting to lead them, 
hand in hand, up the golden streets! Think of 
them seated on the everlafting hills, tracing to- 
gether every rill and streamlet in the " nether 
valley," and acknowledging how all had been 
combining myfterioufly for good. Meanwhile, 
as you gather and tafte this grape of the Hea- 
venly Vintage, let it refrefh your spirit, and 
cheer your footfteps towards your joyous home! 
A royal mourner, as he wept over a rofebud 
prematurely plucked, has left a brief motto-verfe 
for all who have namelefs treafures IN the tomb 



JOYFUL REUNIONS. 63 

and BEYOND the tomb — "I MAY GO TO HIM!" 
(2 Sam. xii. 23.) 

" Yes ! the hour — the hour is hafling, 

Spirit shall with spirit blend ; 
Fail mortality is wafting, 

Then the secret all shall end ! 
Let, then, thought hold sweet communion, 

Let us breathe the mutual prayer, 
Till in heaven's eternal union, 

Oh, my friend ! to meet thee there !" 




VII. 




a But anguifh no more fetters thee, 
For now thou art awake and free ; 
And as on thy enraptured sight 
Burfts that new world of living light, 
Through every nerve what rapture thrills, 
And all thy inmoft being fills ! " 

— Tholuck's "Hours of Devotion? 

" The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." — 
Isaiah xxxiii. 24. 




UFFERING believers, laid on beds of 
languifhing, can alone appreciate the 
sweetnefs of this gleaning from the 
Efhcol-clufters. 

How many of God's children are at this mo- 
ment toffed on couches of diftrefs, shut out from 
the light and sunfhine of a bufy world, — theif 
experience that of the afflifted patriarch of Uz, 
— "I am made to poffefs months of vanity, and 
wearifome nights are appointed unto me. When T 



66 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

lie down, I say, When shall I arife, and the night 
be gone ? and I am full of ioffings to and fro unto 
tJie dazvning of the day" (Job vii. 3, 4.) 

But in yonder bright world of purity and 
love, " there shall be no more pain" (Rev. xxi, 4.) 
How often on the earthly sick-bed is the patient 
grateful for a single hour's releafe from poignant 
suffering ! What will it be in that glorious land 
where not so much as one pang shall ever be 
experienced ! Here, how much is prefent happi- 
nefs clouded by real or imaginary apprehen- 
sions. How often are the strong and robuft 
and vigorous haunted with the dread that their 
strength may be proftrated. Even when life's sun 
is shining moft brightly, the intrufive thought 
will steal acrofs the spirit, that this leafe of long 
health may not always laft. How often, too, have 
thefe forefhadowings been too truthfully verified ; 
either we ourfelves laid low with sicknefs, or elfe 
brought to watch with agonifing anxiety by the 
couch of some beloved relative ! Oh, the bleffed- 
nefs of a world where the fear of fearful things 
will be unknown; — where nothing shall ruffle our 
deep, everlafting repofe ! No Lazarus can be laid 



NO SICKNESS. 67 

at Heaven's gate " full of sores." No sunny counte- 
nance in a moment shrouded with palenefs. No 
elaftic step arrefted with the spoiler's touch, and 
the brightnefs of morning changed into the sha- 
dow of death. The suffering caufed by accident, 
the infirmities of age, the decay of intellectual 
vigour, the oppreffion on the spirit by sudden be- 
reavement — all will be strange in that unsuffer- 
ing state. We know that sicknefs, in addition to 
its own attendant pain and uneafmefs, unfits both 
mind and body for a6live duty and service. The 
emaciated, languid invalid is like the wounded 
bird struggling with difabled wing in the furrow, 
and attempting, in vain, its former joyous soar- 
ing. But in Heaven nothing can weaken or im- 
pair the immortal energies. No longer will the 
renovated framework be the prey of difeafe, or 
subject to decay. No longer will there arife 
feverifh anxieties about others ; — thofe moments 
of dread sufpenfe that seem more like hours, 
when life, and all that life counts dear, is " ba- 
lanced in a breath." Over the earthly portals 
is written, " We have the sentence of death in 
our/elves" (2 Cor. i. 9.) Over the gate of heaven, 



68 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

" Neither shall they die any more" (Luke xx. 

36.) 

And how will this exemption from prefent ex- 
periences of suffering and pain be secured ? How 
will the new heavens and the new earth give 
forth no longer, as here, a plaintive " miferere?" 
Let the words following our motto-verfe ex- 
plain, " The people that dwell iJierein shall be for- 
given their iniquity? It is Sin which has made 
this world of ours dim with weeping. The glim- 
mering lamp in every sufferer's chamber reads, in 
its sickly hue, the sad tale of tranfgreffion. It is 
sin that is forcing from his lips the plaintive soli- 
loquy, " Would God it were evening ! would God 
it were morning !" (Deut. xxviii. 67.) Here, and 
by reafon of sin, the body is, in its every pore 
and muscle, sufceptible of pain. Its nervous 
fibres can, in a moment, become chords of an- 
guifh. Science may be prodigal of her inven- 
tions to mitigate difeafe in its thoufand infidious 
forms, but still " the head will be sick," M the 
heart faint," the body bowed with suffering, the 
healthy cheek furrowed with age ; " the keepers 



NO SICKNESS. 69 

of the houfe shall tremble, and the strong men 
shall bow themfelves," (Eccles. xii. 3.) All the 
marvels and myfteries of the healing art in vain 
can stem the tide of diftrefs, quicken the ebbing 
pulfes of life, ward off the bitter parting, or re- 
animate the silent afhes. Gourds are still wither- 
ing; buds of promife are still drooping to decay; 
the wail of anguifhed humanity is loud as ever. 
Not till the morning of a sinlefs immortality 
dawn, will the tongue of the sufferer be tuned to 
the better melody — " The days of our mourning 
are for ever ended." 

Happy, happy profpe6l ! " The inhabitant 
shall no more say, I am sick." Ye who are now 
laid on beds of languifhing and pain, liften to 
this. Now, as the shadows of each returning 
evening begin to fall, you may have nothing but 
gloomy anticipations. The morrow's light, which 
brings health and joy to a bufy world, may bring 
nothing to you but frefh proftration and anguifh. 
Sabbath comes round, but its once joyous bells 
ring only in your ears the memory of forfeited 
joys ;— the lonely bird, still pining in its earthly 



70 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

cage, wailing, in muffled notes, " Oh that I could 
flee away from this weary prifon-houfe of sor- 
row and pain, and be at reft !" 

Yes ! but that reft is at hand. Soon will you 
mount on eagle's wings to thefe golden gates. 
Pilgrims, now oft pacing along the wildernefs- 
path with bleeding feet and fevered brow, the 
thorny path will soon be over. No more pain to 
harafs you. No more " archers " to wound you. 
No more languor to deprefs you. " The former 
things shall have paffed away." How will one 
moment in that sorrowlefs heaven lead you to 
forget your prefent long experience of proftra- 
tion and suffering! It. will appear in the retro- 
spe6l only as the shadow of a paffing cloud, — 
a dream of the night which the morning light 
has difpelled ; — voices on all sides sounding 
in your ears, " Tlicre shall be no more cicrfe^ 
(Rev. xxii. 3.) 

Meanwhile, as you lie toffing on your sick- 
bed, seek to afk, not, " Am I getting the better 
of my pain?" but, "Am I made the better for it ? 
Is it executing the great miffion for which it has 



JNO SICKNESS. 71 

been sent of God ? Is it san6tifying me, purg- 
ing away the drofs, and fitting me for glory?" 
He has some wife end in view in laying you 
upon the bed of languifhing. Sicknefs is one of 
His own chofen meffengers, — one of the arrows 
of His quiver. As the mother lavifhes her ten- 
dereft affe6lion on her invalid child, so may it be 
truthfully said regarding the suffering believer, 
11 Lord, he whom thou loveji is sick," (John xi. 3.) 
He takes you apart, — secludes you from the 
world, that through the rents of your shattered 
earthly tabernacle He may give you glimpfes of 
coming glory. When your tongue is "failing 
you for thirft," He brings grapes, plucked by 
His own hand, from Canaan, Your soul, like 
that of aged Jacob, revives ! 

How often has the couch of suffering thus 
been made as the very gate of heaven. Be as- 
sured you will yet come to acknowledge infinite 
mercy in this very discipline. In preparing to 
tranfplant His own tree to paradife, — infhead of 
cutting you down, or wrenching you up by the 
roots, — hurrying you away without a note of 



J2 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

warning into an unprovided-for eternity, — He is 
pruning branch by branch, that you may fall 
gently. He is " purging you, that you may 
bring forth more fruit," (John xv. 2.) Seek to 
exhibit the grace of patience under your trial. 
This is one of the few Chriftian virtues which 
can only be manifefted on earth. In Heaven 
there is no suffering to call forth its exercife. 
" Let patience " now therefore " have its perfeft 
work." Seek to feel that the end your God has 
in thefe " light afflictions " is to work out for 
you " a far more exceeding, even an eternal 
weight of glory," (2 Cor. iv. 17.) Toffed on this 
troubled sea, let the eye and the longings of 
faith frequently reft on the quiet haven. " Oh, 
the bleffed tranquillity of that region," says 
Richard Baxter, — himfelf no stranger to a couch 
of prolonged diftrefs, — "where there is nothing 
but sweet, continued peace ! O healthful place 
where none are sick ! O happy land, where 
all are kings ! O holy affembly, where all are 
priefts ! How free a state, where none are ser- 
vants but to their supreme Monarch ! . . . O my 



NO SICKNESS. 



73 



soul, bear with the infirmities of thine earthly 

tabernacle ! It will be thus but a little while. 

The sound of my Redeemer's feet is even at the 

door." 

"And heaven hath reft — the Sabbath of the sky ! 
No weary feet shall walk the world on high ; 

No tear of trouble falls 

Within thofe jafper walls — 
To gain this reft for me did Jefus die." 




VIII 




<2EIje 2DeatIj of SDeatij. 



" See the haven full in view, 
Love divine shall bear thee through. 
Saints in glory, perfect made, 
Wait thy paffage through the shade. 
Ardent for thy coming o'er, 
See, they throng the blifsful shore ! " 




" He shall swallow up death in victory." — ISA. xxv. 8. 

ICTORY is a cheering word ! Joyous 
is the return to their own land of a 
band of warriors after a long and tri- 
umphant campaign. Infpiriting are the hofannas 
of welcome poured upon them by an applauding 
country; and sweeter still the mufic of home- 
voices. The memory of pad toil and suffering 
is forgotten, or remembered only to enhance the 
gladnefs of reunion ! 

What shall it be when the Chriftian, freed 



y6 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

from the laft confli6l, enters the gates of the 
Heavenly City, the hofannas of angels and saints 
refounding through the streets of the new 
Jerufalem! Each toil-worn warrior bathing his 
wounds in the river of the w r ater of life — death- 
divided friends gathered to w r elcome him to his 
everlafting home ! 

Looking back from the heights of glory on 
earth's long battle-field ; it is a gloomy and 
chequered retrofpedt of stern foes, stubborn 
temptations, mountains of difficulties that had 
to be climbed, valleys of humiliation that had to 
be defcended — ay, and the sadder memory of 
unwatchfulnefs and betrayal, temporary defeat 
and difafter. But all is now crowned with "VIC- 
TORY," and the laft and moll recent foe — Death 
itfelf — difarmed. 

How great the contrail NOW and THEN ! 

NoWy alas! he is the unfparing invader of 
every houfehold ; all our precautions, all our 
wifeft human expedients in vain are employed 
to difarm him of his power, and arreft his 
advancing footfteps. He reigns on earth with a 
terrible ubiquity! He comes in the hour leaft 



THE DEATH OF DEATH. >]J 

expefted — often juft when the fondeft vilions of 
earthly joy are being realifed. 

Do we think of it — we who may be living all 
carelefs and thoughtlefs, lulled by the dream of 
prosperity, prefuming on our prefent cloudlefs 
horizon — that each moment, with sleeplefs vigi- 
lance, the stealthy foe is creeping nearer and 
nearer? — that the smooth current is gliding 
slowly but surely onward and still onward 
towards the brink of the catara<5r, where all at 
once the irrevocable leap will and mujlhz taken? 

Reader, perchance you can even now tell the 
tale ! You may at prefent be reading it, or you 
may have recently done so, with tearful eyes 
and a breaking heart. You may be marking the 
vacant seat at your table, miffing the accents of 
some well-known voice, or the sound of some 
well-remembered footfall; a beaming eye in 
your daily walk may be gone, and gone forth for 
ever of time ! What other antidote for hearts 
smitten down by thefe simoom-blafts which leave 
earth a blackened wildernefs — but a look beyond, 
to that Better Land, where this enemy's power is 
neither felt nor feared? In that glorious refur- 



78 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

re6tion-morning, the sceptre which he has wielded 
for six thoufand years will be wrefted from his 
grafp, and that chorus will begin for which cen- 
turies of suffering hearts have been wiftfully 
longing, " O death, where is thy sting? O grave, 
where is thy vi£lory ?" (i Cor. xv. 55.) Sounding 
trumpets commenced the song of the Lord in 
the temple of old, (2 Chron. xxix. 27.) It was a 
type of a mightier feftival in the temple of glory. 
" The trump of God " is to sound ftrft. Slumber- 
ing millions will start at the summons, "Awake 
and sing, ye that dwell in daft!" (Ifa. xxvi. 19.) 
Believer! seek to contemplate death from the 
heavenward side, as a foe doomed and conquered. 
If you are now in Jefus, vi6lory over death is 
yours by anticipation. You cannot sing the 
song of vi6lory completed ; but you can be weav- 
ing the garlands of triumph, and tuning your 
harp for the prophetic strain ! The garden of 
the Pagan Hefperides was said to be watched by 
a dragon. But although death is between us 
and the heavenly paradife, the monfter's sting 
has been plucked away, and cafh into the flames 
of the Saviour's sacrifice. Safe in Chrift !- — then, 



THE DEATH OF DEATH. 79 

indeed, is death difarmed of its real terrors. It 
becomes a stupendous triumphal arch, through 
which God's redeemed legions pafs into glory. 
A dark Valley, but bridged by the bow of pro- 
mife, with its radiant hues of love, and joy, and 
peace ! Lean on the promifes now ; they alone 
will support you in the hour of death, and prove 
to you, like Elijah's horfes and chariots of fire. 
Living now near to Jefus, you will have nothing 
to do when the laft solemn hour does arrive, but 
to step into thefe chariots, and be upborne by 
angels to your Father's houfe ! 

O blifsful confummation ! once acrofs that 
threjhold, and every remembrance of sadnefs 
which death generates here, and which often 
makes life one valley of Baca — one "vale of 
weeping" — will be obliterated, and that jfor ever! 
No sun going down "while it is yet day;" no 
glory of manhood suddenly eclipfed ; no early 
bloffoms nipped in the bud ; no venerable trees, 
under whofe shadow we have long repofed, suc- 
cumbing to the axe of the Deftroyer. Viewing 
death from the earthly side, it seems the mourn- 
ful " exodus of life," — the fatal extinguifher, 



80 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

the dread annihilates of fondeft hopes and 
pureft happinefs. Taking the heavenward view, 
it is what Matthew Henry significantly calls 
" the parenthefis of being.'' It is the bridge from 
the finite to the infinite ; the birthday of immor- 
tality ; the momentary rafping of the shallows 
in entering the quiet haven ; the day which, 
while it terminates the joys of the worldling, 
only truly begins thofe of the believer ! 

Suffering saints of God ! ye who may have 
been " toffed about with a great fight of afflic- 
tions," long out on the stormy sea, neither sun nor 
stars appearing, and, like the seamen in Adria 
of old, " wiftfully looking for the day," — be com- 
forted. Each day is bringing you nearer and 
nearer thefe peaceful shores. You may even 
now be difcovering indications that you cannot 
be far from the defired port ! 

It is beautifully recorded by the biographer of 
Columbus, that, as he was approaching the 
hitherto unknown confines of the new world, 
" one day, at sunrife, some rufhes, recently torn 
up, were seen near the veffel ; a plank, evidently 
hewn by an axe ; a stick, skilfully carved by 



THE DEATH OF DEATH. 8 1 

some cutting inftrument; a bough of hawthorn in 
bloflbm ; and, laftly, a bird's neat-built neft on a 
branch which the wind had broken, and full of 
eggs, on which the parent bird was sitting amidft 
the gently rolling w r aves, were seen floating paft 
upon the w r aters ! The sailors brought on board 
thefe living and inanimate witneffes of their ap- 
proach to land. They were a voice from the 
shore confirming the affurances of Columbus. 
The pilots and seamen, clinging about the mafts, 
yards, and shrouds, each tried to keep the beft 
place, and the closeft watch, to get the earlieft 
sight of the new hemifphere. . . . Delicious and 
unknown perfumes reached the veffels from the 
dim outlines of the shore, with the roar of the 
waves upon the reefs, and the soft land-breeze. 
In a few hours his foot trod the sands of a new 
world ! " — (See Lamartine's " Columbus.") Beau- 
tiful picture of a nearing heaven ! " Affli6led, 
tempeft-toffed, and not comforted," " lift up your 
heads with joy, for your redemption draweth 
nigh!' (Luke xxi. 28.) Yet a little while and 
He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 
Every new sorrow that vifits you ; every new 



82 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

seafon which paffes over you ; every friend taken 
from you ; — thefe are so many silent meffengers 
from the shores of glory, whifpering, "Nearer 
eternity!" Time itself seems not to be without 
significant monitors — signals scattered on its 
ocean that "the day is at hand!" Prophecy 
is faft fulfilling. There are thofe who, from 
the shrouds and rigging, can descry, in the 
hazy diftance, the dim outline of a more glo- 
rious hemifphere than that of earth — " the new 
world" — even " the new heavens and the new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs !" (2 Pet. 

iii. 13.) 

" And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: 
for the firjl heaven and the jirjl earth were pa/fed 
away; and there was no more sea. And I heard a 
great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the taber- 
nacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with 
them, and they shall be his people, and God him- 
self shall be with them, and be their God. And 
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and 
THERE SHALL BE NO MORE DEATH, neither 
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 



THE DEATH OF DEATH. 83 

pain : for the forme}' tilings are paffed away," 
(Rev. xxi. I, 3, 4.) 

" Then, looking up through sorrow's night, 
We trace the spirit's homeward flight ; 
The Prince of Life has mark'd that road, 
Through the Dark Valley, home to God. 

" Where once the Mafter lowly lay, 
Let the tired servant rest to-day; 
And in the Father's houfe above, 
For ever share the Mailer's love." 




IJL 




" Whilft I see Thy love to me, 
Every obje£l teems with joy; 
Here, oh may I walk with Thee, 
Then into Thy prefence die ! 

" Thee to praife, and Thee to know, 
Conflitute my blifs below ; 
Thee to see, and Thee to love, 
Conflitute my blifs above." 

TOPLADY. 

" I shall be satisfied, when I awake, in thy likenefs." — 
Psalm xvii. 15. 




[HAT a glorious awaking, after earth's 
unquiet dream ! With God ! Like God ! 
Happinefs has been well defined to 
be " the coincidence of the finite will with the 
Infinite.' , On earth that coincidence is never 
perfect. There are difturbing forces in the moral 
atmofphere tempting the soul ever and anon, 



86 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

like some wandering planet, to break loofe from 
the sphere of the Divine favour, and purfue a 
devious and erratic orbit. Strange, indeed, that, 
defpite of leffons conflantly enforced, it should 
cling so fondly to the delufion that there are ele- 
ments of heart-satisfying happinefs independent 
of God. Vain thought ! Even when the objects 
on which the affe6tions are lavifhed seem the 
pureft and nobleft, there is ever a confcioufnefs 
of unfated longings, yearnings after something 
better, which earth cannot give. In this chafe 
after happinefs a point may be reached, but 
not the point. In grafping the imaginary good, 
it is but a shadow. It appeared, in approach- 
ing, fair and captivating. It proved, in reality, 
a piece of fairy froft-work ; on touching it, it 
fell. 

But in Heaven the coincidence will be com- 
plete. Man's will and love will there be entirely 
subordinate to the will and love of God. The 
lineaments of the Divine image, erafed and 
effaced at the Fall, will be there again imprinted. 
There will be no competing affe6lion to alienate 



WAKING REALITIES. %J 

from the great Source of happinefs, — no vacuun 
requiring aught elfe to fill it. The rills will be 
unneeded in the prefence of the great Fountain- 
Head, — Him who is " effential love, effential 
goodnefs, effential glory." " Lord," says Augus- 
tine, " Thou haft made us for Thee, and our 
heart is unquiet until it repofeth in Thee ! " 
Thofe immortal powers and energies and affec- 
tions made for God, will then repofe for ever in 
God. There will be nothing more to be defired 
or longed for; and the rejoicing soul, gazing 
around on the floods of the excellent glory, will 
be able to say, " I am satisfied ! " 

" Once I dreamed," says Payfon, " of being 
tranfported to heaven ; and being surprifed to 
find myfelf so calm and tranquil in the midft of 
my happinefs, I inquired the caufe. The reply 
was, When you were on earth, you refembled a 
bottle but partly filled with water, w T hich was 
agitated by the leaft motion — now you are like 
the same bottle filled to the brim, which cannot 
be difhurbed." Yes ! then every soul will become 
a temple, and its diftinguifhing glory will be 



\ 



\ 



88 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

tAat of Solomon's on the day of confecration — 
''the houfe was filled with the glory of the Lord!" 
(i Kings viii. II.) Other and minor sources of 
happinefs there may be. There may be the 
waving of incenfe, sounds of sweet melody, the 
high praifes of God chanted by a mighty multi- 
tude which no man can number, and the lofty 
companionfhip of cherubim and seraphim ; but 
the believer's pre-eminent dignity and bleffed- 
nefs will confift in his own soul becoming a con- 
secrated shrine for the myftic Shekinah — " God 
dwelling in him, and he in God? 

Reader ! whatever be the Divine dealings and 
difcipline in fitting thee for such a Heaven, and 
such a likenefs, submit to them. To employ a 
well-known but beautiful illuftration : — The re- 
fining of silver is not complete, until the refiner 
beholds his own image refle<5ted brightly in the 
fufed metal. And if He who calls Himfelf "a 
Refiner of silver" keep thee long in the crucible, 
— subje6l thee for long to the furnace, — it is only 
that every grain and speck of alloy may be 
purged away, and that in Heaven thou mayest 



WAKING REALITIES. 89 

awake rejoicing, and " satisfied " in "His like- 
nefs." 

What a glorious, what a strange transforma- 
tion ! Who would recognife the spirit that is 
now chafed and buffeted with temptation and 
sin, corruption and iniquity, then made refplen- 
dent with the image of a holy God ? As the 
shapelefs, unfeemly root of the flower or plant 
struggling amid rubbifh and stones and cheerlefs 
darknefs, after faftening its fibres in the soil, 
sends up a graceful stalk, efflorefcing in loveli- 
nefs and beauty, its leaves waving in the sun- 
light, and filling the summer air with their fra- 
grance ; — so will it be with the soul. It is here 
sown in corruption. It fallens its roots in a w r orld 
dark and cheerlefs, by reafon of sin. Its im- 
mortal fibres are nurfed and difciplined amid 
trials and sorrows, difficulties and perplexities. 
It is soiled and degraded with the corruptible 
elements through which it has to fight its upward 
way. But there is a glorious summer-time at 
hand, when the root thus nurtured shall burfl its 
mortal coil, and its leaves and bloffoms shall not 



90 



GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 



only be bathed in the hues of heaven, but their 
every tint will be refplendent with a glory re- 
flected from the Great Source of all light and 
joy, 




X. 




" Brief life is here our portion, 
Brief sorrow, short-lived care : 
The life that knows no ending, 

The tearlefs life, is there. 
There, glory yet unheard of 
Shall shed abroad its ray, 
Refolving all enigmas, — 
An endlefs Sabbath-day.' ' 

— Bernard o/Cluny, 12th century. 

" Now we see through a glafs, darkly, but then face to 
face." — 1 COR. xiii. 12. 



^a^fglHAT an extenfion in the domain oi 
l&Wfil ^ now ^S e on that bleffed morning when 
" the day shall break," and earth's twi- 
light shadows shall " flee away for ever.'* The 
myfteries in Providence, the " deep things " in 
Scripture, the apparent difcrepancies in God's 
moral government, all unfolded, vindicated, ex- 
plained. " In thy light," O God, we shall " see 
light," (Ps. xxxvi. 9.) 



92 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

How this new illumination will be effected we 
cannot say. We can only venture a few dim 
conjectures on a great problem which the future 
itfelf alone can solve. 

Much of our curtailed and partial knowledge 
here, is owing to the limited range of our prefent 
faculties. It is quite poflible to conceive in a 
future world a vaft and indefinite extenfion and 
amplification of our prefent mental and bodily 
pow r ers ; such an amplification as the man born 
blind experiences when his eyes are opened for the 
firft time, on a world of whofe glories he has only 
been previoufly cognifant by hearing about them. 
We can quite well imagine some faculty which 
either we do not now poffefs, or which hitherto, 
like the sight of the blind man we have suppofed, 
has been lying sealed and dormant, all at once 
imparted; — "eyes of our underftanding" opened, 
which are now clofed ; — new powers, shall we 
say, of thought and reafoning, taking in know- 
ledge at intuition which now r requires years of 
laborious thought. Even in the cafe of the lower 
animals, we see powers and inftin6ls which we 
do not poffefs, but which, if we did poffefs them, 



FACE TO FACE. 93 

would add incalculably to our capacities. In- 
stance, as familiar examples, the flight of the 
migratory birds, or that of the bee winging its 
way to a vafh diftance from its hive ; yet, not- 
withftanding its tortuous aerial journey, finding, 
with unerring precifion, its way back to the hid- 
den nook whence it started. 

The prefent limited range alike of our phyfi- 
cal and moral powers of obfervation may have 
been, as an able writer surmifes,* the reafon 
why St Paul, when he was caught up into the 
third heavens, tells us he saw things which it is 
not " pofjible for a man to utter." Why not 
pojjible ? Simply becaufe he was not gifted with 
earthly powers or faculties or language capable 
of giving expreffion to what he saw. The phe- 
nomena of heavenly glory (if I might so call 
them) were alike, in kind and degree, so diverfe 
from all he had been converfant with here, that 
he would have needed another dialect and voca- 
bulary to evolve his meaning. 

* See Archbifhop Whateley's " Scripture Revelations 
on a Future State," — a book profoundly thoughtful and 
suggeftive. 



94 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

" But THEN shall I know ! " All enigma and 
difficulty will then vanifh, — all will be made plain 
to ennobled, refined, and purified powers. Here 
a paffing breath from a carnal world dims my 
glafs, and obfcures my spiritual vifion. There, 
there will be no taint of sin to mar or blight my 
lofty contemplations. Here, amid the twilight 
shadows of an imperfeft state there is much 
to caufe doubt, and, alas ! difagreement among 
God's children. There, all shall see " eye to eye;" 
they will only wonder that trifles should have 
been suffered so sadly to divide and eftrange. 
Here, we are in the gloomy crypt, walking amid 
the humiliating wrecks of sin and death, reading 
the myfterious records of mortality. There, it 
will be in the "cathedral aifles" of light and 
love, harmony and peace — the noon-day splen- 
dour of eternity. Glorious profpeft ! all made 
bright before that Sapphire Throne. That mys- 
terious providence, that defolating bereavement 
which, like a sweeping avalanche, tore up by the 
roots the fibres of affe6tion, then I shall know r , 
and see, and acknowledge it to have been all for 
good. Then I shall underftand, (what my aching 



FACE TO FACE. 95 

heart cannot now,) that the child I wept over, — 
the parent I laid prematurely in the grave, — the 
friend, early severed from my side, — were all 
thereby taken from much evil to come, and in- 
verted with an earlier blifs. I shall wonder how 
I could ever have sorrowed on their behalf. 

Meanwhile let me bow submiffive to my 
Righteous Father's will, how r ever dark and start- 
ling sometimes it may be. In infancy, the child 
takes much on trufb ; in after life, he gets his 
difficulties explained. Let this be my pofition 
regarding the "deep things" of providence and 
grace. Wait patiently the explanation of my 
Father in heaven. I shall see in the completed 
plan that all events had their end and miffion, 
— the Lord evolving glory to Himself from all. 
At prefent I behold only one or a few links, 
while He has the whole chain in His hands. 
Then, in retracing that long line of unbroken 
kindnefs, I shall feel satisfied that not only all 
was/<?r the beft, but really the beft. The whole 
bypaft wildernefs, as seen from the hills of glory, 
will appear carpeted with love. Like a traveller 
after a dark night, I shall look back along the 



96 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

region I have traverfed ; and noting the perils 
which by His gracious guidance I had efcaped, 
wonder at the way by which God has led me. 

Above all, I shall grow in the knowledge of 
Himfelf; and have amazing views — such as I 
have >never had here — of His glory as the great 
end of life and being. Our prefent knowledge of 
God, even revealed knowledge, is but like the 
prattling of infancy, a mere attempt at a spoken 
language, moft of which is still unintelligible. 
But then I shall be " filled with all the fulnefs of 
God." Not by any means that my knowledge 
of Him can be perfeft. There will always be 
depths in that ocean-fulnefs, beyond the fathom- 
ing of any finite mind. Nay, further, the more I 
know, the more I shall feel that I have to know. 
When I know moft, my befitting exclamation 
will be, "Oh the depth !" "It PASSETH know- 
ledge? (Eph. iii. 19.) 

" This is life eternal to know Thee? God, by 
His varied difcipline, is meanwhile training me 
in this knowledge. And, as a sainted writer has 
well said, " we muft wait till w r e get quite home 
to have leffon-books put by for ever. But .what- 



FACE TO FACE. 97 

ever are the gradations in our books, or in what- 
ever shape the leffon comes to us, this is the one 
grand bleffed obje6l aimed at by our wondrous 
Teacher in all, 'Acquaint thy/elf now with HIM, 
and be at peace! " — (Mifs Plumptre.) 

" No difappointments shroud 
The angel-bowers of joy ; 
Our knowledge hath no cloud, 
Our pleafures no alloy. 

" The fearful word, to part, 
Is never breathed above ; 
Heaven hath no broken heart 
Throughout her realms of love." 




XL 




fltfnnccfccti ILmnitwvm, 



* Oh, how beautiful that region, 
And how fair that heavenly legion, 
Where thus men and angels blend ! 

Glorious will that city be, 

Full of deep tranquillity, 
Light, and peace, from end to end ! 
All the happy dwellers there 

Shine in robes of purity, 

Bound in firmed unity. 
Labour finds them not, nor care, 

Ignorance can ne'er perplex, 

Nothing tempt them, nothing vex ; 
Joy and health their fadelefs bleffmg, 
Always all things good poffeffing." 

Thomas a Kempis, 1380. 

The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to 
shine in it : for the glory of God did lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof." — Rev. xxi. 23. 



[EAVEN is here compared to a city. 
But it is no created orbs, no material 
luminaries, which light up its glorious 



IOO GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

edifices. Thefe are superfeded. There is no 
longer need of the intervention of means as on 
earth. All the knowledge and light and glory of 
the Church triumphant emanate direct from the 
Divine Source of all excellence. The immediate 
prefence of the Creator and the Lamb will render 
unneceffary every other medium of communi- 
cation. As a veffel requires props before being 
launched to sea, — or a houfe in building requires 
scaffolding before it can be completed, — so the 
Church, in its earthly condition, requires the 
props and scaffolding of ordinances and means 
of grace. But when the eredtion is finifhed — the 
laft stone placed on the confummated strudlure, 
— then the scaffolding is removed — it is needed 
no more. "There shall be no more prayer 
there," says Baxter, " becaufe no more neceffity ; 
but the full enjoyment of the thing prayed for. 
God's face shall be the Scripture where we shall 
read the truth." We have servants in the lower 
banqueting-houfe ; — angels are miniftering spirits 
sent forth " to minifter to the heirs of salvation." 
The Church has ordained office-bearers to carry 
the veffels of the san6luary. In Heaven, the 



UNNEEDED LUMINARIES. 101 

Matter "girds Himfclfa.r\& serves," (Luke xvii. 8.) 
Here it is mediately through the creature our spi- 
ritual wants are supplied ; — there all will be sup- 
plied immediately from God and the Lamb. It 
is " THE LAMB who leads to the living fountains 
of water." It is " God" who " wipes away all tears 
from the eyes!" (Rev. vii. 17.) Here the ufe of 
means is indifpenfable. They are adapted for 
our state of imperfection. The infant or sick 
man cannot bear the full blaze of the sun ; — - 
they mull have the curtain drawn, or the bright- 
nefs tempered and subdued; it is only with in- 
creafmg age or returning health that either are 
able to look on the light. So in the infancy and 
weaknefs of our probation-ftate we could not 
bear to gaze on the unveiled majefty of God's 
glory ; — w r e could not endure its intolerable 
brightnefs ; it would blind and confume us. The 
figurative "sun" and a moon" of ordinances are, 
therefore, gracioufly appointed for the feeble- 
nefs of our earthly condition, But when iiv 
vefted with the nobler powers of our heavenly 
manhood, we shall be abie to difpenfe with 
thefe ; — we shall fe>? able to draw afide the veil- 



102 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

ing curtain, which is needed now to subdue and 
modify, and to gaze with eagle-eye on the 
brightnefs of Jehovah's prefence. To borrow 
an apt illuftration : None of the lower animals 
can hold, in the nobleft senfe of the word, 
fellowfliip with man, as they are at prefent con- 
stituted ; but let one of them have suddenly 
imparted to it the gift of reafon, then it becomes 
immediately fitted to do so. So it is with regard 
to our prefent and future relation to God. We 
are unable, with our prefent limited powers, to 
hold, in the higheft senfe, intimate fellowfhip 
with Him ; — we have the feebleft conceptions of 
His glory, the moft inadequate apprehenfion of 
His goodnefs, and power, and excellency, and 
majefty. But when we come in a glorified state 
to have higher and nobler spiritual endowments 
conferred on us, we shall be able to see, as we 
cannot do now, His glorious perfections, and to 
enjoy, as we cannot do now, His prefence and 
favour, His fellowfhip and love. 

The city will then have no "need" of the sun ! 
It is needed now) — the softer and more subdued 
light is required now ; but earth's darknefs will 



UNNEEDED LUMINARIES. 103 

then be part, and the true Light will shine. We 
shall be able (without being, like Mofes, hidden 
in the cleft of any sheltering rock) to " see God 
and live!" (Exod. xxxiii. 20.) 

And what a fellow/hip will this be ! — The 
Being of all beings, the Light of all lights ! 
David felt it to be subj e£t-matter of gratitude 
and joy, — "I am companion to them that fear 
thee" He had a hallowed joy in the fellowship 
of kindred spirits on earth. What will it be to 
be the companion of God Himfelf ? — to be linked 
with all that is effentially great, and glorious, and 
good, in the univerfe : — not only to be brother to 
the angelic hofts, but, in a higher senfe than 
even the Father of the faithful knew it, " to be 
called" (and to BE) "the friend of God!" If, 
even on earth, I have known something of Him 
as my " Light " and my " Salvation," — if I have 
seen somewhat of His glory shining through the 
battered chinks of my ruined soul, — what will it 
be to bafk in the floods of infinite light and love 
before the Throne? "What can be defired," 
says one now in the midfl of the glorious reali- 
ties on which he often dwelt, " beyond the blifs 



104 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

imparted by the confcioufnefs of loving and 
being loved by Him, in whofe smile of love the 
higheft archangels find the very heaven of hea- 
ven to confift ?" 

I shall be independent of all that contributes 
to light up my earthly pathway. Friends I may 
have then among the angels — hallowed reunions 
of earthly affection may and will take place in 
that world of glory ; but though I expe6l to 
prize and cherifh them, I shall have no " NEED " 
of them. They will be among the " leffer 
glories," having no glory (comparatively) by 
reafon of " the glory that excelleth." The sun- 
light and the moonlight will pale into nothing- 
nefs in the prefence of mightier beams ! 

But while I shall be loft in amazement at the 
exceeding greatnefs and excellency of this great 
Being, who is enthroned " in light, inacceffible, 
and full of glory ;" — while all the eloquence of 
earth that has tried to portray the majefty of 
His glory will fall immeafurably short; — it will, 
at the same time, be a softened glory. Never, in 
thefe sublime pictures of Heaven which we have 
in the Book of Revelation, is the Lord God 



UNNEEDED LUMINARIES. • 105 

Almighty spoken of but in conjunction with 
"the Lamb? John "saw no temple; the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb were the temple," 
(Rev. xxi. 22.) Now he sees no light. The 
luftre of earthly sun, and moon, and stars, have 
faded, and are quenched for ever, but "the Lord 
God Almighty AND THE Lamb are the light 
thereof? He hears the redeemed multitude sing 
a lofty anthem, but it is this> — " Salvation to our 
God that sitteih upon the throne y AND UNTO THE 
LAMB," (Rev. vii. 10.) What is the defign of this 
oft-recurring imagery and symbol but to keep 
ever before the Church, even in its triumphant 
state, the intervention of a Mediatory by w r hom 
alone it is that we can see God and live ? " The 
Lamb is the light thereof 7" Calvary's crofs and 
Calvary's Saviour will still be the theme and 
problem of eternity ! 

And if light be the emblem of purity, how I 
ought, in the profpeft of such a Heaven and 
such a Prefence, to make it my great ambition 
to be "perfecting" that " holinefs, without which 
110 man can see the Lord?' (Heb. xii. 14.) Holi- 
nefs becometh that city ! Its gates are never 



106 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

shut except againft sin. Let me seek, as its 
chartered citizen, that every veftige of the ac- 
curfed thing be now put away. What a happy 
world, where temptation shall no longer be felt 
or feared ! — where I shall never more, by reafon 
of sin, be mourning an abfent Lord, — never 
more, in the midft of my own erring eftrange- 
ments, be uttering the plaintive soliloquy of the 
patriarch, " Oh that I knew wJiere I might find 
Him!" but ever repofing in the joyous con- 
scioufnefs, " / am still with Thee ! " 

" With Him all gather'd ! to that bleffed home, 

Through all its windings, still the pathway tends ; 
While ever and anon bright glimpfes come 
Of that fair city where the journey ends. 
Where all of blifs is centred in one word, 
1 So shall we be for ever with the Lord.' " 




XII. 




mifstfon anti JFrtttttom 

u So the wifh grows deeper, fonder, 
Friend of souls ! Thy face to see, 
In Thy pleafant Salem, yonder, 

Where no tear nor sigh may be ; 
And God's prefence on the sight 
Shines in pure unfhadow'd light." 

" We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."— 
i John hi. 2. 

HIS beautiful verfe of John comprifes the 
two grand elements of heavenly glory: 
To "see God"— to be "like God." It 
defcribes the matured manhood of the Chriftian. 
We are now in a state of infancy and nonage. 
As a child on earth is incapable of comprehend- 
ing much that is made plain in after years, so, 
with regard to divine knowledge, " we know in 
part, and we prophesy in part," (1 Cor. xiii. 9.) 
But in the full development of our spiritual 




IOS GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

being we shall " see Him face to face." The 
earthly prayer will, for the firft time, in all its 
amplitude, be fulfilled — "I befeech thee, shew me 
thy glory," (Exod. xxxiii. 18.) 

See Him ! What an advance does this an- 
nouncement indicate in the moral capacities 
and privileges of the glorified, beyond what 
they enjoyed on earth ! We cannot bear to look 
even on the natural sun here ; we are dazzled 
and blinded with his intolerable brightnefs. But 
there, "the Lord our God" is to be our "ever- 
lafting light," (Ifa. lx. 20.) The spiritual vifion 
will be enlarged and adapted for the augmented 
glories of this higher manifeftation. 

See Him ! What an honour ! The Jewifh 
High Prieft was highly favoured in being per- 
mitted, once a year, to gaze on the auguft symbol 
of the Divine prefence — the Temple Shekinah. 
What will it be to enjoy the eternal and uninter- 
rupted contemplation of the great God Himfelf — 
that, too, undimmed by any myftic or shadowy 
rites ; but " with open face," {lit. face unveiled,) 
" beholding as in a glafs the glory of the Lord," 
(2 Cor. iii. 18.) And it is to "see Him as He is." 



VISION AND FRUITION. IO9 

Not canopied in clouds and wreathed in rain- 
bow-form, awful, inapproachable ; — but God in 
our nature, " Immanuel, God with us." It is 
plain that it is Jefus of whom the Apoftle of 
love speaks in our motto-verfe. Jefus as He 
was, and is, and ever shall be— the Elder Brother 
— the kinfman Redeemer — " the same yefterday, 
and to-day, and for ever," (Heb. xiii. 8.) 

Often are we confcious of the thought pre- 
senting itself, "Would that I had been among 
the number of thofe who of old were privileged 
to hear that loving voice, and gaze on that coun- 
tenance, ' fairer than the children of men ! ' 
Would that I had sat on the Hill of Beatitudes, 
and liftened to thofe words of matchlefs wifdom ; 
or stood by the sea-shore of Gennefaret, or in 
the graveyard of Bethany, or mingled in the 
jubilant crowd on Olivet!" This honour is 
ours in reverfion. We shall "see the King in 
His beauty." " Tell ye the daughter of Zion, 
Behold, thy King cometh." " They shall see 
his face ; and his name shall be in their fore- 
heads," (Rev. xxii. 4.) It will be said of His 
redeemed people in glory, as the queen of 



I IO GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Sheba said of His earthly type, " Happy are 
thy men, happy are thefe thy servants, which 
stand continually before thee ! " (i Kings x. 8.) 

" Like Him ! " This is spoken of here as the 
second element in Heavenly blifs. 

Even on earth the contemplation of Chrift by 
faith is reprefented as bringing about a refem- 
blance to Himfelf. " We are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory? How much 
more, when, as divine artifts, gazing on His un- 
veiled luftre, we shall be enabled to copy the 
Divine Original, feature by feature ! " We shall 
be like Him, FOR we shall SEE Him." We can- 
not, even in the prefent world, be much in the 
company of an individual without infenfibly 
contrafting a refemblance to him, — catching up 
his tones, his manners, his habits of tafte and 
thought. So will it be in Heaven with Jefus. 
We shall become more and more "Saviour-like." 
Oh, surely if it be an exalted honour to see Him, 
with what glory will it inveft the ranfomed thus, 
in any feeble meafure, to refemble Him ! If it 
be the Chriftian's secret afpiration on earth to be 






VISION AND FRUITION. 1 1 1 

like Abraham, or Mofes, or David, or John, or 
Paul, what will it be to be " like Him," of whom 
thefe are but the faintefl shadow? 

But, more than this ; — not only is likenefs to 
Jefus an honour ; it is a neceffary requirement 
or qualification to render the believer meet for 
the enjoyment of Heaven. I need, in some de- 
gree at leaft, conformity to Him in character, 
in order to be able to appreciate His home of 
purity and love. The moft beautiful landfcape 
may be placed before the blind man, but, de- 
prived of the organ of vifion, by which alone its 
beauties can be apprehended, he can see no love- 
linefs in it. So Heaven in its holinefs would be 
one vacant and dreary blank, if I have no moral 
eye with which to behold it. But that moral 
vifion will be imparted. The perfe6lly-renewed 
heart, a copy of its Lord's, will then be the true 
" organ of sight." There will be no sin to mar 
the contemplation of the Divine Original ; — no- 
thing to difturb or divert the spiritual eye. The 
heart's affeftions will repofe with full compla- 
cency on Him, the great centre of attraction. 
There will be perfe6l unifon with His will, and 



112 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

entire, unreferved confecration to His glory ; all 
the ennobled, renovated, san6tified powers of the 
glorified nature will be willingly embarked in 
His service. The feet will run for Him ; the 
heart will be an altar confecrated to His wor- 
ship ; memory will be a labyrinth of remem- 
bered mercies ; the tongue will be a glorified 
inftrument to refound His praife ; the whole 
regenerated being a storehoufe of colle6led 
materials to proclaim and teftify of His greatnefs 
and majefty — His grace, and truth, and love. 

Be this, then, the view of Heaven I seek to 
have conftantly before me, — that I am to be "like 
my Lord!' What a solemn and searching teft is 
thus afforded wherewith to try my anticipations 
of future blifs ! Amid the mofl intenfe world- 
linefs, there may be etherial speculations about 
the glory of the Saints' Everlafhing Dwelling- 
place. But do I long after its manfions becaufe 
their blifs confifts in having a heart affimilated 
in holinefs to that of Chrift ? Like the Elder 
Brother, and in Him to the whole brotherhood 
in glory — saints, angels, God ! 

Oh, if the confcioufnefs of following, as His 



VISION AND FRUITION. II3 

ranfomed Ifrael, the pillar of His prefence in the 
wildernefs be delightful, what will it be to fol- 
low Him in the Promifed Land ? If the Efhcol 
pledges be grateful, what will it be to pluck for 
ourfelves in the heavenly vineyard, under the 
shadow of the living Vine Himfelf ? 

Lord Jefus ! prepare me for meeting Thee, 
seeing Thee, enjoying Thee. Were I going, in 
a few years, to refide in a diftant land, how I 
should strive now to mafter its language — to 
know its hiftory — to put myfelf in a state of 
training for its habits and occupations. Heaven is 
that country; and this is the meffage sent by let- 
ter from its shores to every stranger and pilgrim 
on the earth, "And every one that hath THIS HOPE 
in him purifieth himfelf, even as Chrifl is pure" 
(1 John iii. 3.) The priefts in the earthly temple 
had to wafh and purify themfelves ere they 
could engage in sacerdotal service. So, if I am 
to be a " prieft unto God " in the heavenly 
Jerufalem, I mufb sanftify myfelf for this ever- 
lafting feaft. It is a quaint but a true saying, 
"The man who does not find heaven in his 

soul here, will not find his soul in heaven here- 

H 



1 14 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

after." Unlike Jefus now, I cannot expert to be 
like Him for ever. The fine chifellings of the 
perfected model, indeed, will be added in glory ; 
but the germ of the likenefs — the bold outlines 
of the moral sculpture — muft be begun on earth. 
Meanwhile, let the words sound in my ears, 
like the preparation-bell for the great Sabbath- 
services of the Church in heaven — let them 
follow me like a celeftial monitor wherever I 
am, and howfoever engaged, "Let this mind 
be in you, which was alfo in Chriji Jefus" (Phil. 

ii. 5 .) 




XIII. 




ilocalttp ana Cljaramr* 



" The whole creation groans, 

And waits to hear that voice, 
That shall reftore her comelinefs, 

And make her waftes rejoice. 
Come, Lord, and wipe away 

The curfe, the sin, the stain, 
And make this blighted world of ours 

Thine own fair world again ! " 

" Neverthelefs we, according to his promife, look for new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
nefs." — 2 Peter iii. 13. 



SITTLE has been said in Scripture fitted 
to gratify an idle curiofity regarding the 
circumftantials of future blifs. The ex- 
treme and studied referve, indeed, of the sacred 
writers on this subje£t forms one of the striking 
indirect evidences that they were neither impof- 
tors nor enthufiafts — neither pleafers of men, nor 
compilers of cunningly-devifed fables. Had they 



Il6 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

been so, they would doubtlefs have appealed 
more than they have done to the fancy and 
paffions of their readers, expatiating on the 
scenery and splendours of the world to come. 

While, however, the statements are brief and 
fragmentary regarding the locality and charac- 
teriftics of Heaven, it becomes us, with a modeft 
precaution, to be " wife up to what is written." 

The verfe of the apoftle Peter offers us two 
themes for meditation on a future state of blifs 
— two Grapes to be gleaned from the Efhcol 
clufters. 

I ft, We are to look for "new heavens and a 
neiv earths 

The prefent globe on which we dwell is to 
undergo a purifying procefs by fire. When the 
day of the Lord comes " as a thief in the night," 
" the heavens shall pafs away with a great noife, 
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat i the 
earth alfo and the works that are therein shall be 
burned tip" (2 Peter iii. 10.) Although, how- 
ever, a conflagration be here spoken of, we have 
strong reafon to conj eflure that this planet, over 
which "the morning stars sang together," and 



LOCALITY AND CHARACTER. llj 

which the Almighty Creator"Himfelf pronounced 
to be " very good!' is not to be annihilated — not 
to be expunged from the " records of creation," 
— but rather only remoulded and reconftrufted 
into a "new earth" nobler and more beautiful 
than when the Sons of God shouted over it their 
lofty anthems. Again, (although we have no 
pofitive authority in affigning a special locality 
for the future home of the glorified,) we can 
affirm, with strong grounds of certainty, that that 
home — be it where it may — muft confift of a 
material habitation of some kind, suited to mate- 
rial bodies. Whatever change may take place 
hereafter on our phyfical frames, — however re- 
fined and even spiritual in one senfe they may 
be, — we know that a glorified body cannot, in 
the nature of things, be an ethereal, angelic, 
spiritual effence ; floating, in dreamy, shadowy 
form, through the regions of space. It muft 
affume a subftantial, vifible, tangible shape. It 
is to be "fajliioned" like unto the glorious re- 
furreftion-body of Jefus, (Phil. iii. 21.) Much 
of our prefent corporeal organifm, as we may 
afterwards more particularly note, may, and mod 



1 1 8 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

probably will, be retained and reftored ; only 
their functions vaftly augmented, and the sphere 
of a6livity vaftly enlarged. If, then, for thefe 
glorified bodies some local material habitation 
muft neceffarily be provided, another step leads 
to the probable (the natural) inference, that their 
old abode, purified and renovated, would form 
the moft befitting locality for their eternal refi- 
dence. We have seen, in a previous Meditation, 
that the Great Being, at whofe feet they are to 
caft their crowns, is moft frequently spoken of 
and adored by them under His suffering title, 
" The Lamb!' If He delights to remember earth 
as the scene of His humiliation — if He delighted 
to dwell in its " habitable parts " in eras long 
antecedent to the Incarnation, and ere the mil- 
lions He was to save were called into exiftence, 
— how much more will He delight to traverfe it, 
when — "His blood, His pain, His toils" all paft 
— it becomes the monument and trophy of His 
unfpeakable grace and love ! Is it not reafon- 
able to infer that the theatre on which His re- 
demption-work was achieved, so far from being 
erased from the univerfe, will rather be retained 






LOCALITY AND CHARACTER. 119 

— in reftored and renovated beauty — a luftrous 
point on which principalities and powers will 
delight to fix their wondering gaze, and get from 
its memories frefh matter and motive for praife ? 
Will not the song liftened to by Ifaiah in the 
old Jerufalem temple, — when he heard "one cry 
to another," — rife to its full cadence, in the in- 
gathered Church of the Redeemed, when, on 
the platform of " the new earth," and under the 
dome of "the new heavens," the ten thoufand 
times ten thoufand and thoufands of thoufands 
will be heard rolling in the threefold afcription 
— "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hojls! The 
zvhole EARTH is f till of His glory?" (Isa. vi. 3.) 

If we are forbidden to hazard stronger affer- 
tion, we may, at all events, speak of all this as 
warrantable conjecture. Earth (our own prefent 
sin-ftricken, woe-worn earth) may only have to 
put off thefe her afhen robes of guilt and woe, 
to become a heavenly and eternal home for her 
ranfomed children — beautiful amid " a sifterhood 
of worlds." Scripture significantly speaks, not 
of the reneiving or remodelling of all things, but 
of "the reflitution of all things," (Acts iii. 21.) 



120 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

It is the building of the old fabric which the 
earthquake had shattered ; — the difentangling 
of stone by stone from the matting weeds and 
ivy, and chifelling them jfrefh for the heavenly 
Temple. All that sin has left unfullied may 
remain as it is. We may have the same glo- 
rious sky for a canopy — the same everlafting 
mountains to gaze upon — the same grateful 
viciffitude of seafons, — the same winds to chant 
— the same waves to chime, " Glory to God in 
the higheft!" The eye may be charmed, as 
now, with harmonious colouring, — the ear de- 
lighted, as now, with mufic and song. The 
senfes may be as sufceptible (or more sufcep- 
tible) than they now are of the ^sublime and 
beautiful in nature ; — art may vindicate, under 
nobler aufpices, her claim to be the handmaid of 
all that is pure and lovely and of good report ; — 
the harpers, harping on a glaffy sea, undimmed 
and unfretted by a ripple of sin or sorrow ; — the 
very words which are now at times attuned to our 
sinful lips in a sinful world, may be set to the 
higher mufic and melodies of a w r orld of purity 
and love — " O Lord, how manifold are thy 



LOCALITY AND CHARACTER. 121 

works! in wifdom Jiajl thou made them all! 
THE EARTH is full of thy riches!" (Ps. civ. 24.) 

The 2d statement in the words of Peter, is the 
special chara£leriftic of thefe " new heavens and 
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousnefs" 

This brings us again to the great truth, that it 
is the moral afpe<5l and character of heaven, and 
not its locality, which moft concerns us. If the 
Bible defcriptions and pictures of a future ftate 
teach us anything, it is this — not to indulge in 
fanciful theories about the acceffories of heavenly 
blifs, but to keep our minds focufed on this great 
truth — that " hoiinefs becomeih that kingdom!" 
It matters comparatively little where we shall be, 
but it matters much, and it concerns us much, to 
know what we shall be. We may not be able 
categorically to pronounce whether Heaven is 
on some diftant, and as yet untraverfed nook in 
creation ; or w r hether it may be this very earth, 
confecrated by so many mingled memories of 
sin, suffering, and glory. But this we do know, 
that RigJiteousnefs will be the great law of that 
blifsful empire. We repeat the great truth dwelt 



122 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

upon in the previous chapter — " It doth not yet 
appear what zve shall be, but we know that when 
He shall appear, we shall be LIKE Him! 1 It is sin 
which forms the foul curfe and blot on the " pre- 
sent evil world." In itfelf, our earth is all one 
could wifh as a beauteous and befitting habita- 
tion for glorified natures. Take sin away, which 
has blighted and blafhed whatever is fair within 
it, and you transmute it at once into a " Paradife 
reftored." Yes ! imagine this world — this very 
world— purged of its evils — its selfifhnefs — its 
profligacy^ — its covetousnefs — its jealoufies — its 
backbiting.s ; — each heart a pellucid fountain of 
pure and holy thought — each houfehold a little 
Bethel— every life within it an incenfe-breathing 
altar;— each nation linked with its fellow in 
everlafting brotherhood — the curfe of Babel re- 
moved, and the one univerfal tongue the lan- 
guage of love ! Then, following the expulfion of 
sin, pifiture the expulfion of suffering. The cries 
of infancy — the pains of sicknefs — the pangs of 
difeafe— the hectic flufh (the sad premonitory 
symptom of coming diffolution) — the bitter be- 
reavement-— the tolling of the funeral bell— the 



LOCALITY AND CHARACTER. 1 23 

crowded grave-yard — the weeds of mourning, 
and deeper yawning chafms of bitternefs in the 
soul which no human plummet can gauge ; — 
imagine all thefe unknown — thefe " former things 
paffed away." Moreover, add to this negative, 
the pojitive view of a world of blifs, — the pre- 
sence of God — the perfonal love of an ever- 
prefent Saviour — fellowfhip with angels — com- 
munion with all that is holy and happy ! Oh, 
I need not go and make the sun my chariot, 
and sweep the azure firmament ; — I need not 
traverfe the nightly plains, and make every star 
a refting-place in my search for a happy heaven ; 
— I have it w T herever God and righteoufnefs is ! 
He might erect for me in infinite space some 
gigantic palace, glittering with corufcations of 
unearthly splendour — its halls gleaming with 
the ranfacked treafures of the univerfe — re- 
splendent with beauty, refonant with song. But 
if sin were there — Heaven it could not be ! 
" Bleffed are the pure in heart, they alone can 
see" — they alone can enjoy "God/" (Matt. v. 8.) 
Is my mind and character now, in any feeble 
meafure, fitted for this sinlefs abode? No unre- 



124 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

newed, unregenerate man could be happy there. 
Take a peafant from the plough, and set him on 
a throne ; how ill at eafe would he feel at the 
strange tranfition! — how ill qualified to cope 
with the duties and cares and refponfibilities of 
empire! Take a deaf man to liften to melo- 
dious mufic — or a blind man to gaze on the 
glories of a landfcape, both would fail to imbibe 
one pleafurable emotion, seeing they are deftitute 
of the requifite inlets of enjoyment. The objefts 
of pleafure are, in both cafes, locked to their 
senfes. So in Heaven. Without holinefs, I could 
have no relifh for communion with God. I muft 
have a moral vifion to render me capable of 
appreciating the moral lovelinefs of its scenery ; 
— I muft have spiritual taftes and likings to 
render its holy society congenial. As little could 
an inhabitant of our earth, with his prefent bodily 
organifation, be able to suftain life n a planet 
nearer the sun, (such as Mercniyl) as the sinner, 
with his spiritual organifation unchanged, be able 
to bear the blaze of that heaven of unfullied 
purity! 



LOCALITY AND CHARACTER. 1 25 

O happy time ! when alike the world with- 
out and the world within will be purified — hal- 
lowed — " made meet for the Matter's ufe." Every 
paffion quelled — every ufurper overthrown — 
when from this creation, now " groaning and 
travailing in pain," shall arife a perpetual hymn 
of praife and love ; — when sin, which like a vaft 
avalanche has been crufhing it down, shall have 
melted away for ever! And more than this, 
when my own heart — regenerated, glorified — 
will become a confecrated altar, on which the 
sacrifices of righteoufnefs will be offered con- 
tinually; — self, sin, corruption, no longer burn- 
ing their defiled incenfe and strange fire, but all 
shall "grow" into an " holy temple in the Lord." 

Lord! I would seek to have this Heaven be- 
gun ! Let me not only see the Efhcol clufters ; — 
let me tajle them. Give me grace to become 
more and more holy. Let the power of evil wax 
weaker and weaker, and the power of holinefs 
wax stronger and stronger. It has been beauti- 
fully said, " The upper streets of glory are on 
earth." Let it be so with me. Let my heart 



126 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

become now a miniature heaven. Let me know, 
in my blifsful experience, the truth of the Sav- 
iour's words, " The kingdom of God is WITHIN 
yoiC 

" Many a joyful sight was given, 

Many a lovely vifion here, 
Hill, and vale, and starry even, 

Friendfhip's smile, affection's tear; 
Thefe were shadows, sent in love, 
Of realities above ! 

" Here were sweet and varied tones, 
Bird, and breeze, and fountain's fall ; 
Yet Creation's travail-groans 

Ever sadly sigh'd through alL 
There no difcord jars the air, 
Harmony is perfect, there ! 

" Here devotion's healing balm 

Often came to soothe my breail, 
Hours of deep and holy calm, 

Earnefls of eternal reft. 
But the glory was unknown, 
Which shall there be all my own !" 




XIV. 




%l)z Mutual gjojn 



" Lo ! He beckons from on high! 
Fearlefs to His prefence fly. 
Thine the merit of His blood, 
Thine the righteoufnefs of God ! 
Angels, joyful to attend, 
Hovering round thy pillow bend ; 
Wait to catch the signal given, 
And escort thee quick to heaven.'* 

u Father, I will that they also, whom thou haft given me, 
be with me where I am ; that they may behold my 
glory." — John xvii. 24. 




N emigrant is about to sail for a diftant 
land. As the veffel weighs anchor, and 
*' his family are gathered on the shore 
to bid a sorrowful farewell, his laft words re- 
mind them that it is but a temporary separa- 
tion, — that in a few brief years, by a favouring 
Providence, he will be back again, to take them 
along with him to his adopted home ! 



128 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Or, a father gathers his children around his 
death-bed, to give them his laft bleffing. With 
his eye looking upwards to the glorious world 
on which his spirit is about to enter, he tells 
them, in faltering accents, to dry their tears ; 
for in a little w r hile they will be reunited in that 
" better land " which knows no parting. 

Here is the utterance of a departing Saviour 
to His orphaned children. It forms a petition 
in His laft interceffory prayer, w r hen about to 
leave the world, and return to the Father. " Oh, 
the full joys," says Richard Baxter, speaking of 
this verfe in his " Saint's Rest/' " offered to a 
believer in this one sentence of Chrift ! Every 
word full of life and joy!" 

The verfe brings before us thefe two thoughts 
in connexion with a state of future blifs : — 

The SAVIOUR'S joy in Heaven in being with 
His people; and 

His PEOPLE'S/^ in Heaven in being with their 
Saviour. 

I. The Saviour here speaks of His own joy in 
having His saints with Him in glory. 



THE MUTUAL JOY. 1 29 

The language is that of a conqueror claiming 
a stipulated reward. God seems to say to Him, 
" Afk of me, and I will give thee." " Son, thou 
art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." 
And what does He afk ? He had Heaven at 
His command — " thrones, and dominions, and 
principalities, and powers." But He prefers the 
requeft to be crowned as " Lord of all," in the 
midft of His saints ; — that redeemed sinners, like 
celeftial planets, might through eternity circle 
and conftellate around Him, their central Sun. 
" He will reft in his love ; he will joy over them 
with singing," (Zeph. iii. 17.) 

On earth, a man likes to live and die among 
thofe he venerates. The old village patriarch 
defires to be laid where his fathers sleep, in his 
native churchyard. The Jew will travel back 
from the moft diftant region of the world, that 
his bones may be laid in the Valley of Jehofha- 
phat, under the shadow of Olivet, and within 
hearing of the Kedron. " Where thou dieft," said 
Ruth to the one she loved beft, " I shall die, and 
there shall I be buried," (Ruth i. 17.) 

So speaks alfo an ever-living Saviour of His 



130 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

people. "Where I live," He says, " there ye are 
to live alfo ; eternity shall not separate between 
you and me." The well-known tomb of a great 
earthly Architedt is placed immediately under 
the dome of the vaft temple his genius had 
reared. With reverence we say it, Jesus is 
through eternity to be enfhrined in the Temple 
of His saints, — the living stones rifing tier on 
tier around, — each glowing with the infcription, 
" He loved me, and gave Himfelf for me." 

What joy thus to behold around Him the 
travail of His soul, the purchafe of His agony! 
If we value great refults generally in proportion 
to the labour and toil befhowed on them ; — ii 
the philofopher, in arriving at some brilliant 
achievement in science, has all the greater joy 
when he thinks of it as the refult of months and 
years of patient and unwearied application ; — if 
the artift or sculptor has all the greater joy in 
contemplating his completed w r ork, by retravers- 
ing in thought years of inceffant labour, — the 
line by line, and stroke by stroke, until he worked 
it up to the now r breathing marble ; — if the Great 
God Himfelf, in refting from the work of crea- 
tion, when He contemplated its magnitude, had 



THE MUTUAL JO Y. 131 

delight when He pronounced it " very good," — 
what muft be the tranfcendent joy with which 
the adorable Redeemer beholds the completion 
of an undertaking which involved in it so unpa- 
ralleled a coft of humiliation and pain and woe ! 
What shall be the complacency with which He, 
the mighty Architeft, contemplates the living, 
breathing forms of immortal life, which, by His 
own and His Spirit's work, were chifelled and 
fafhioned to adorn the Heavenly Temple ! 

Here was " the joy" we read of " that was set 
before Him;" — the joy of seeing "a multitude 
which no man can number" who had "wafhed 
their robes, and made them white in the blood 
of the Lamb." If the courageous mariner has 
joy, who, at the rifle of his life, bravely dafhed 
into the water, and refcued some struggling caft- 
away from the weltering waves ; — if the Patriot- 
Philanthropift could with joy stand in thought 
amid the grateful millions whofe fetters he had 
struck off, and into whofe lips he had put the 
mufic of freedom ; — if the honoured minifter has 
joy, who, on his death-bed, can say, at the re- 
trofpeft of a lifetime of self-sacrificing devoted- 
nefs in his Matter's caufe, "Bleffed be God, my 



132 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

work is done," * — what shall we say (if we can 
compare the earthly with the heavenly — the 
finite with the infinite) of that everlafting joy 
which shall fill the bofom of the Saviour as He 
sees thofe once bound with the fetters of sin, 
struggling in the waves of defpair, now saved 
with a great salvation, exulting in " the glorious 
liberty of the sons of God ! " 

If He had joy — as we believe He had — when 
in the depths of a bypaft eternity He said, " Lo, 
I come/' (though in that coming He had all the 
appalling profpecl of ignominy and shame ;) — if 
" Wisdom " had " delights with the sons of men 
and rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth," 
when the solitary treading of the wine-prefs had 
yet to be borne; — if He had joy when He 
stretched forth His hands over His " Church in 
the wildernefs," and said, " Lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world," — what 
intenfer and holier joy muft that be, when, every 
woe and pang and sorrow at an end, His people 
shall be with Him " where He is ; " earth's 
battle, with its " confufed noife and garments 
rolled in blood," terminated ; the everlafting 
* Rev. Edward Bickerfteth. 



THE MUTUAL JOY. 1 33 

triumphal proceffion of eternity begun, — im- 
mortal palm-branches strewed in the way, — 
and the streets of the new Jerufalem echoing to 
the cry, " Hofannah to the Son of David" — 
"Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reign- 
eth!" (Rev. xix. 6.) 

Behold, then, Heaven as a place where the 
Saviour himfelf shall rejoice over His ranfomed 
ones. They are " glorified together." They are 
glorified in Him, and He is glorified in them. 
" Heaven would not be enough for Jefus without 
His people. It seems as if their prefence were 
effential, not to His deity, (this cannot be,) but 
to His mediatorial happinefs." * The joy in that 
happy world would seem to begin at the centre, 
and to be deepeft there, but sending out its 
waves to the circumference of glory. 
* Harington Evans. 




XV. 




" All their toils and conflicts over, 
Lo ! they dwell with Chrift above ; 
Oh ! what glories they difcover 
In the Saviour whom they love ! 
Now they see Him face to face, 
Him who saved them by His grace." 

Kelly, 

" Father, I will that they alfo, whom thou haft given me, 
be with me where I am ; that they may behold my 
glory."— John xvii. 24. 




[N our laft, we confidered this verfe as 
expreffive of the Saviour's joy in Hea- 
ven in being with His people. We may 
confider it now as expreffive of His people's joy 
in Heaven in being with their Saviour. 

Let us enumerate some of the caufes or rea- 
sons of this joy. 

(1.) The very fa£l of His being joyful will give 
tJiemjoy. 



I36 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

When a son hears of some honour done to his 
hoary-headed parent, or of some event or occur- 
rence that has given him pleafure, the joy or the 
pride in the parent's bofom will be transfufed 
into that of his child, and become part of his 
own. Or if we hear of the promotion in the 
world of a brother or a friend — that by dint of 
intellect or goodnefs or worth he has rifen to 
some pofition of honourable eminence — what a 
joy his succefs gives to us ! And shall it not be 
so in an infinite degree with the redeemed in 
glory ? When they behold the Brother of bro- 
thers, the Friend of friends, reaping the fruits of 
the " travail of His soul," and " being satisfied," 
His joy will become their own ! 

(2.) The thought of His being near them and 
with them will impart to them joy. 

It makes us happy to have thofe near us we 
love. We never enjoy friendfhip so much as 
when that friend is by our side. We may be 
cheered from time to time by an abfent brother's 
letters, his kind meffages, and warm expreffions 
of attachment; but the wfitten epiftle does not 
supply the blank of the living one — we long to 



THE MUTUAL JOY. 1 37 

see him face to face ere our joy can be com- 
plete. 

So in Heaven with Jefus. " In Thy prefence" 
" there isfulnefs of joy." Then and there shall 
that prefence be fully unveiled. 

If even in this twilight world the Chriftian can 
say, in the enjoyment of a prefent Saviour, " It 
is good for me to be here;" how good to be there! 
If even now the meffages of this abfent Elder 
Brother, through His Word and Spirit, be cheer- 
ing and joyful, what will be the vifion and frui- 
tion of the Brother Himfelf ! If the manna from 
the banqueting-table be precious, what will it be 
to have the vifion and fruition of the Mafter of 
affemblies ! 

(3.) The thought of His not only being with 
them and near them, but EVER with them, and 
EVER near them> will greatly intensify their joy, 

A friend or brother comes from a difhant land. 
His vifit is cheering at the time, but it is only a 
paffing glimpfe. The joy of his home-coming is 
soon damped by the neceffity or summons again 
to return. The joy of the difciples in having 
their Lord with them in the days of His flefh 



138 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

was sadly clouded by the announcement, " It is 
expedient for you that I go away." " Becaufe I 
have said thefe things unto you, sorrow hath 
filled your heart," (John xvi. 6.) 

Not so will it be with His second and more 
glorious coming. " The Matter is come," will be 
the joyful meffage and cry, " and He will never 
more be taken from us" — He will be no longer 
" a wayfaring man that turneth afide to tarry for 
a night" — no farewell tear will ever again be 
shed, — no Olivet in Heaven, like the earthly one, 
where He is to be "parted from them!" Oh, 
the joy comprehended in that key-note to the 
song of the Redeemed, "And SO shall we EVER 
be with the Lord 7" 

(4.) One other element of the joy of the Re- 
deemed in Heaven in having Jefus with them, is 
that His prefence will through eternity be the 
Pledge and guarantee of their safety. 

The Tree of Life in the firfh Eden was the guar- 
antee of Adam's safety, so long as he continued 
faithful to his Maker. Chrift is the Tree of Life 
in the midft of the Heavenly paradife — the im- 
mortal pledge of His people's covenant security. 



THE MUTUAL JOY. 1 39 

"Becaitfe I live ye shall live alfo," (John xiv. 19.) 
Their happinefs through eternity is secured by 
His meritorious work ; — they are there as His 
blood-bought trophies ; — their prefence in Hea- 
ven is an anfwer to the prayer we are now con- 
sidering ; it is the glorious Vi6lor claiming His 
purchafed rights, "Father, I WILL." And not 
till He revokes that "will" — in other words, 
not till an unchanging Saviour become change- 
able, — can His people's happinefs be altered or 
impaired. 

Reader ! learn from all this the same prac- 
tical leffon we have previoufly enforced, — how 
little it matters where the locality of Heaven is. 
It is " with Chrijl" That is enough. " With 
ME ! zvhere I AM ! " and the Chriftian needs no 
more. The lafh words of invitation of Jefus to 
His Church, when that Church is taking its 
tranfition step from the militant to the triumph- 
ant state, will be, " Come, ye bleffed of my 
Father ! " Obferve, it is not, " Go, ye bleffed, 
to some paradife of my providing : I am about 
to return to my heavenly throne : I have marked 
out some new Eden for you ; — some blifsful soli- 



140 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

tude where you can reign alone ; — but though 
separated from me, I have made provifion for 
the fulleft meafure of joy." No; this would 
hufh every harp, and cloud every spirit. It 
would be like sending them to a univerfe with- 
out a sun. It would be to tell them they were 
to be dependent on the fitful luftre of glimmer- 
ing stars. But it is, " Come, ye bleffed ! Come 
with ME ! I afcend to my Father and your 
Father — to my God and your God. We go 
together. I will be your forerunner. I will 
shew you the path of life. My glory is to be 
your glory. My gladnefs is to be your gladnefs. 
' Enter ye into the joy of your Lord! " 

In some exalted senfe, may we not put the 
words of the apoftle into the mouth of his Lord 
and Mailer, and suppofe Him thus to addrefs 
His saints on the Great Day — " What is my joy 
or crown of rejoicing? Are not ye in My own 
prefence?" 

The prayer of Jefus we have been confidering 
is afcending now. It has beex afcending and 
fulfilling for six thoufand years. Though unfeen 
to mortal eye, He, the great covenant Angel, is 



THE MUTUAL JOY. 141 

even now standing before the throne, with the 
breaftplate of His unchanging priefthood. The 
hand that was once transfixed to the tree, is 
pointing to the names engraven there, and 
saying, " Father, I will " that thofe here im- 
perifhably infcribed " be with me where I am." 

With what solemn significance may we con- 
ned the utterance of that prayer with every 
believer's death. The Church on earth may be 
weeping and mourning over some bright light 
on the eve of being extinguifhed, wondering, 
perhaps, at the myfterious providence which is 
about to carry bereavement into a stricken 
houfehold. Could they liften to the tranfa6lions 
in the upper san6luary, every repining word 
would be hufhed into silence. They would find 
the death-bed on earth was the anfwer to the 
requeft in Heaven — ''Father, / will;" — angels 
hovering over it with the joyful summons, " The 
Matter is come, and calleth for thee ! " 

Chriftian ! exult in this " bleffed hope." Covet 
the poffeffion of this fulnefs of joy ; — beholding 
Jefus as He is, rejoicing over you with all the 
joy of His infinite Godhead and His glorified 



142 



GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 



humanity. Here we are merely among the 
shallows of this ocean of infinite love ; what will 
it be when we shall be " able to comprehend 
with all saints, what is the height and depth, 
and length and breadth, and to know the love 
of Chrift, which paffeth knowledge !" (Eph. iil 
1 8, 19.) 




XVI. 




SDtftersfe S^agmtuDtg* 



" There, are thofe everlafting gardens 
Where angels walk and seraphs are the wardens, 
Where every flower, brought safe through death's dark 
portal, 

Becomes immortal. 
Each blooming bright, 
Though some reflecting more of Heaven's all-glorious 
light." 

" One star differeth from another star in glory."— 
i Cor. xv. 41. 



[N that world of light, and love, and 
glory, all will be supremely bleffed. 
But it is a thoroughly scriptural view 
of the happinefs of the Redeemed in glory, to 
reprefent it, though the same in kind, as differing 
in degree. The saints will be classified — " enrolled 
in moral genealogies." 

Diverfity is a law of God's univerfe. It extends 
to great things as well as to little things. Some 



144 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

flowers are more beautiful than others. Some 
intellects are more lofty than others. One 
planet in the firmament is of greater magnitude 
than another. There are gradations too in the 
heavenly hierarchy. Angels and archangels, — 
principalities and powers, — " the greateft and 
the leaft " in the kingdom of heaven. 

And have we not reafon alfo to believe that 
it will be so with glorified saints ? All, indeed, 
will have reached their thrones and their crowns 
through "the one only way." We cannot speak of 
any of that white-robed multitude as being more 
juftified than others ; for they equally point, as 
the ground of their juftification, to the finifhed 
work and righteoufnefs of their adorable Surety. 
They all equally feel that in being saved they 
were " saved by grace," — that nothing but the 
blood of that precious Lamb of God was be- 
tween them and everlasting ruin ! And juft as 
one law binds the planets and the atoms which 
compofe them ; so the one great principle of love 
to Him who died for them, will bind together 
the vaft family of the ranfomed, from the soaring 
Paul to the weeping Magdalene. But the degree 



DIVERSE MAGNITUDES. 1 45 

of the saints' happinefs will be regulated accord- 
ing to their advances in holinefs. Our bleffed 
Lord Himfelf very emphatically enunciates this 
same truth, more efpecially in His parable of 
the Talents, where the amount of the reward is 
in exact proportion to diligence and fidelity in 
trading ; — a parable the leffon of which the 
great Apoftle has thus tranflated into one of 
his weighty aphorisms : " Whatfoever a man 
sowetky that shall he alfo reap" (Gal. vi. 7.) 
Works will form no plea or ground whatever 
for acceptance before the throne. But while 
it is not said of the " bleffed dead" that their 
works " go before them," (as a paffport to their 
crow r ns;) it is said "their works dofolloiv them," 
(Rev. xiv. 13.) There will be a vaft difference 
between the happinefs of the man who had 
done much for Chrift on earth, — who had long 
stood " a pillar in the temple of God," — and that 
of the monument of grace who had juft been 
plucked at the eleventh hour " a brand from the 
burning." As memory, we have reafon to know, 
will form a fearful element in the mifery of the 

loft (Luke xvi. 25 ;) so, we may conclude, 

K 



I46 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

will the exercife of the same ennobled faculty- 
form an element of exalted blifs in the cafe 
of the righteous and the saved. The recollec- 
tion of all that we have done out of love to the 
Saviour, and to promote His caufe on earth ; — the 
sacrifices, little though they be, w r e have made 
for Him, — the denial of self for the furtherance 
of His glory, — the afifeftion we have borne to His 
people, — the pleafures we have forfworn and 
forgone for His sake, — all such will be matter 
of hallowed joy. Jesus will love to recount 
them ; — His words will carry their approving echo 
through all eternity, — "Inasmuch as ye did it to 
the leajl of thefe, ye did it unto me!' " Ye have 
been faithftd over afeiv things, I will make you 
ruler over many things" (Matt. xxv. 23, 40.) 

But yet, with all this diversity in blifs and 
glory, there will be no strife among the 
heavenly, as once among the earthly difciples, as 
to " which should be the greatest.'' In this 
world, the race for diftinflion is limited and re- 
stricted ; only a favoured few can attain pre- 
eminence. " They which run" (on earth) " a race, 
run ally but one receive th the prize," (1 Cor. ix. 



DIVERSE MAGNITUDES. 147 

24.) In Heaven, each will receive his reward. The 
runner may be diftanced in the earthly courfe 
by his competitor — not so in the heavenly. " In 
the race for moft worldly objects, one who has 
prepared himfelf, however well, runs uncertainly, 
since, after all his exertions, another may out- 
strip him ; whereas he who aids a brother in 
striving for the incorruptible crown, is ever bene- 
fiting himfelf." * There will be crowns with 
varying lustre, and harps of varying tone ; but, 
like the blending of different colours to the eye, 
or different notes to the ear, all will be pervaded 
by one beautiful harmony. The saint on the 
loftieft pinnacle of glory, and the saint on the 
outfkirts of the spiritual horizon, will have the 
same confeffion — "We are all one in Chrift 
Jefus." 

There will, moreover, be a felt and acknow- 
ledged equity in this future retribution. The 
grace or virtue moft assiduously cultivated by the 
believer on earth, will, (in subordination to God's 
glory,) be the main channel of his happinefs in 
heaven. In the words of Richard Baxter, " we 
* Whately. 



I48 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

shall join with Mofes in his song — with David in 
his pfalm of praife. We shall see Enoch walking 
with God — Noah enjoying the end of his singu- 
larity — Jofeph of his integrity — Job of his 
patience — Hezekiah of his uprightnefs, and all 
the saints the end of their faith." 

On earth, the cultivation of particular branches 
of knowledge brings a pleasure to their pos- 
seffors which is denied to thofe ignorant of 
them. The man, for example, who has culti- 
vated the science of miijic, is capable of enjoying 
the elaborate compofition and exquifite har- 
monies of some great master, in a way which 
another cannot do who has neglected this study. 
So in Heaven ; we believe that whatever may 
have been the tree of righteoufnefs — the Christian 
grace or virtue or labour — you have moft affidu- 
oufly nurtured and cultivated here, you will 
through eternity encamp under its shadow and 
partake of its fruits. Whatever were the cha- 
rities to which your lips and your heart were 
moft frequently attuned below, you will refume 
with moft intenfe pleasure amid the sublime 
harmonies of " the new heavens and the new 



DIVERSE MAGNITUDES. I49 

earth." Whatever kindled your luflre as an 
earthly star, that radiance will be perpetuated 
in the celeflial firmament. Heaven will not ex- 
tinguifh your earthly taftes and longings — your 
earthly energies and a<5tivities. As a luminous 
orb you will still shine for God — not abforbing 
your light, but delighting to be a holy medium 
in giving forth radiations to others. Not a 
volume bound up and put under lock and key 
in the library of Heaven, but continued as a 
living epiftle to be read by other orders of in- 
telligent beings. Not a life of dreamy ina6lion 
— all its moral activities arrested on entering the 
spirit-world, but occupied in true angel-work — 
endlefs ministries of love. 

Jefus, knowing the taftes and capacities of 
His ranfomed, will delight to lead from foun- 
tain to fountain — from scene to scene — from 
eminence to eminence, as He knows they will 
be severally able to appreciate them. 

Oh, what an incentive is this to be " up and 
doing," — to be adding to your faith the bright 
catalogue of Christian graces ! Seek an "abun- 
dant entrance!' It will be joy indeed, hap- 



ISO GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

pinefs far tranfcending earth's happieft hours, 
to bafk as a star on the outfkirts of glory. But 
why not be fired by the noble ambition to be 
near the all-glorious Centre ? Your crown, given 
by grace and sprinkled with blood, can never be 
dim, — but why not strive now, that when '" the 
Lord the righteous Judge " shall " give it you," 
you may be " found unto praife, and honour, and 
glory," at His second appearing? 




XVII. 




" Grave, the guardian of our duft, 
Grave, the treafury of the skies ; 

' Every atom of thy dull, 

Refts in hope again to rife. 

" Hark, the judgment-trumpet calls, 
Soul, rebuild thy houfe of clay, 
Immortality its walls, 
And eternity its day." 

" Fashioned like unto His glorious body."- 
Phil. iii. 21. 



KS this frail body to share none of the 
glories of immortality? Is the de- 
caying tenement to slumber on, — a 
heap of unconfcious duft, — to be at laft swept 
into annihilation at the diffolution of all 
things ? 

" The voice said, Cry ! and he said. What shall 
I cry? All Jlejh is GRASS!" (the noble! the 
beautiful ! the ornamental !) all like withering, 



152 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

fading grafs of the field ! (Ifa. xl. 6.) Such is 
the Bible's humiliating defcription of the body 
here, and it is echoed back in mournful experience 
from ten thoufand tombftones, and ten thoufand 
aching hearts. 

But " this corruptible shall put on incorrnptio7i, 
and this mortal immortality" (i Cor. xv. 53.) 
The refurrection-body, freed from the laft veftige 
of corruption — purged from the laft taint of 
earthlinefs — ennobled, purified, etherealifed — 
shall stand "without fault before the throne/' 
the crowning and culminating triumph of the 
redemption work, (Rom. viii. 23.) 

We need not dwell on nature's familiar an- 
alogies. The germ expanding into the perfedl 
bloffom ; — the little grain of corn, buried in its 
tiny grave of inert clod, burfting forth in the 
appointed spring-time ; — the torpid caterpillar 
cradled in a dark cell — a loathfome dungeon — 
yet that dungeon becoming the birthplace of a 
beauteous infe£t, mounting to heaven on wings 
of purple and gold. Thefe are the mute utter- 
ances of the outer world on the poffibility of a 
truth beyond the province of reafon. 



GLORIFIED BODIES. 153 

But Scripture comes in where reafon is dumb 
or ambiguous. It tells me of the reconftruftion 
of the diffolved earthly tabernacle into " a build- 
ing °f God eternal in the heavens? It tells more ; 
— that the spiritual body is to be il fafhioned" like 
to that of a glorified Redeemer. It tells that there 
is at this moment a Man wearing a glorified 
Human body on the throne. " Chrift, the firft- 
fruits " — the firft Sheaf of the immortal harveft 
— has been waved in the new Jerufalem temple, 
the pledge and earneft of the myriad sheaves 
that are to follow; and His saints (raifed up in 
their bodies) will be " caught up together in the 
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so be 
ever with the Lord? (1 Thefs. iv. 17.) 

It is vain to attempt conjectures as to the 
nature of the incorruptible and glorified frame, — 

what changes will take place on the prefent 

1 

condition of our bodily syftem. That there will 
be new powers and sufceptibilities of enjoyment 
added to what we now poffefs, we have the 
strongeft reason to believe. There will be no 
greater change, indeed, in a glorified state on 
our phyfical structure than is absolutely neces- 



154 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

sary. We know, however, the dependence of 
the mind on the body; and it is quite pofiible to 
conceive, by a finer bodily organifation, a corre- 
sponding enlargement of the mental faculties 
and powers. We may be deprived of some im- 
portant sources of happinefs at prefent, owing 
to the want in our exifting bodily frames of 
some neceffary inlets for thefe. A man deprived 
of eyesight has a mind as sufceptible as others 
of taking impreffions of beauty ; but having no 
organ to be the medium of their conveyance, he 
forfeits the pleafures which his fellows enjoy. 
So, may it not be poffible in heaven, by means 
of a more perfect bodily stru6lure — a phyfical 
frame even more " fearfully and wonderfully 
made " than our prefent one — to have the way 
opened for new inlets of exalted enjoyment — 
waking into energy dormant powers of which we 
are now as unconfcious as the deaf man is of 
the sweets of mufic, or the blind man of the 
glories of the sun, or the tiny infant of the 
philofopher's speculations?* 

We may infer, moreover, that whatever be the 
* Whately. 



GLORIFIED BODIES. 1 5$ 

nature of the change, and however vaft, it will 
not be so vast as to deftroy perfonal identity. 
We might recur to earthly analogies here also. 
The grown-up man has an entirely different 
body in its component parts from what he had 
as an infant. The particles which make up his 
material framework have again and again been 
renewed, yet in person he remains the same. 
Heaven will be the manhood of our earthly be- 
ing. But though the transformation muft neces- 
sarily be great from our prefent " infant state/' 
perfonal identity will remain undeftroyed. 
" Then shall I know, even as alfo {now) I am (here) 
known," (i Cor. xiii.) The features of my buried 
friend I shall recognife again. The beaming 
face of cherilhed affection shall wear the old im- 
prefs of earth : — no change but this, that the 
shifting tent is tranfmuted into " a building of 
God," reared of permanent and imperifhable 
materials — a bodily structure that shall know 
no decrepitude — smiles that shall never die — 
new powers conferred which earth may have 
longed for, but never poffeffed — all emulous for 
the divine glory, and inftin6l with burning and 



156 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

untiring zeal in His service ! And more than 
all, it will be Humanity in its nobleft type — 
"fafliioned like to Chriffs glorious body!' There 
will be a family refemblance to the elder Bro- 
ther, bodily, spiritually. It is said that He shall 
come to be " glorified " not only BY his saints, 
but " in his saints," as they bear His image, and 
wear His likenefs. " We know that when He 
shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
Him as He is;' Some of our lovelieft garden 
flowers are grafts from wild plants in brake and 
foreft — thicket and hedgerow. So beauteous 
are these tranfplants as almoft to belie their 
pedigree. Their perfect tints, and symmetrical 
forms, and sweet perfume, however, prove the 
culture and development of which the plant or 
flow r er in its native state was capable. So shall 
it be in a far higher and nobler senfe with 
flowers tranfplanted into the garden above. 
The glorified body! how immeafurably will it 
tranfcend in phyfical and moral beauty the old 
earthly tabernacle ! " Sown in corruption, raifed 
in incorruption ; sown in weaknefs, raifed in 
power ; sown a natural body, raifed a spiritual 



GLORIFIED BODIES. 1 57 

body." The firft was "of the earth, earthy," 
the second is fafhioned like unto the glorious 
body of "the Lord from heaven!" (1 Cor. xv. 
42.) 

Glorious body, indeed ! without sin, without 
pain, without weaknefs, or wearinefs, or infirmity. 
The thought of diffolution, which now cafts its 
cold shadow acrofs our path, no longer known 
or dreaded ! Paul's earthly soliloquy changed 
to this, "O happy man that I am, now that I 
am delivered from this body of death!" The 
Chriftian's grave, however lowly, is thus "hal- 
lowed ground." There slumbers, in thefe clods 
of the valley, redeemed dujl. The maufoleum ot 
clay becomes the cafket of a gem which is to 
sparkle through eternal ages in the Redeemer's 
crown. 




XVIII. 



fesk£ 




; * Jerufalem, my happy home, 
Name ever dear to me, 
When shall my labours have an end 
In joy and peace in Thee ! 

" When shall thefe eyes thy heaven-built walls, 
And pearly gates behold ? 
Thy bulwarks with salvation strong, 
And streets of shining gold. 

" Oh, when, thou city of my God, 
Shall I thy courts ascend, 
Where congregations ne'er break up, 
And sabbaths have no end." 

" And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty 
and the Lamb are the temple of it." — Rev. xxi. 22. 



[EAVEN without A temple! How 
strange, at firft sight, is this figurative 
description ! The temple was " the 

excellency of beauty" in the earthly jerufalem. 

It was the place of solemnities, the sanctuary of 



l6o GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

prayer, the frequented haunt of angels ; nay, 
the vifible pavilion where God himfelf in myftic 
splendour dwelt. To the exile of Patmos it had 
more than an Israelite's wonted hallowed affocia- 
tions. Through its " Beautiful Gate " he had oft 
and again paffed, in company with his Divine 
Mafter. In its sacred porticos he had liftened 
to the voice of Him who spake as never man 
spake. But as the celeftial vifion now paffes 
before him, he looks in vain, amid the shining por- 
tals, and jasper walls, and golden-paved streets, 
for a similar sacred shrine. He is struck with the 
myfterious abfence. " I saw 710 temple therein /" 

This apparent omiffion in the infpired picture 
tells us that there will be no more need of Temples 
in Heaven. 

There was no temple required in the firft 
Eden ! There our firft parents, in the days of 
their innocence, worfhipped God under the blue 
vault of nature's temple ! 

The angels in heaven, so far as we know, have 
no vifible san£luary, there is nothing in their 
sinlefs world to interrupt their interchanges of 



NO TEMPLE. l6l 

love and fellowfhip, or to mar the cadence of 
their song. Sin firft demanded some special 
localities for religious worfhip — consecrated 
spots partitioned off from the world. There 
was no need of sheepfolds, so long as no wolf 
prowled abroad. But when sin and Satan gained 
entrance, the little flock required the sheltering 
covert, wherein they might reft in safety amid 
" the mountains of prey!' (Ps. lxxvi. 4.) 

As it was of old in the earthly paradise, so 
will it be amid the glories of " Eden refhored " — 
there will be no " prefent evil world " to difturb 
its worfhippers, and render needful the quiet and 
seclufion of hallowed edifices, to secure the 
sanftities of devotion. Every place in the vaft 
domain of Heaven will be a Temple, — every spot 
hallowed ground. 

Divifions, too, there will be none. Here, alas ! 
the exiftence of many and separate Temples, is 
too often the painful indication of divided 
churches and severed believers ; worfhipping 
apart, — refufing to hold fellowfhip in one and 
the same shrine, and drawing lines of unfeemly 
demarcation between each other. In Heaven, all 



1 62 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

shall see " eye to eye." No walls of separation 
there. No rival Gerizims and Zions there. The 
worfhippers being afiimilated to God, shall be 
afiimilated to one another. They shall have 
one temple, one motive, one heart, one song. 
" See how thefe glorified Chriftians love one 
another!" 

But if the apoftle, in gazing on the apocalyptic 
vifion, "saw no temple," what was the subfli- 
tute ? The want of the earthly symbol of glory 
and beauty, muft surely be supplied by something 
nobler and sublimer! Yes, there IS to be a 
Temple in Glory, but it is a houfe " not made 
with hands." Materialifm, with all its magnifi- 
cent dimenfions, melts away ; — " The Lord God 
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof? 

There is one senfe, indeed, in which, at this 
moment, God and the Lamb are the Temple of 
the univerfe. God's prefence is all-pervading. 
The splendours of the vifible firmament are but 
the hangings and drapery of a more august and 
awful shrine. But I cannot now, with my feeble 
faculties, difcern the majefty of His glory. I 
feel that in this " childhood-world " I am like 



NO TEMPLE. 163 

the infant in the affembly of philofophers, who 
is all unconfcious of the superiority of the minds 
around him, and can hold no fellowfhip with 
them in their lofty themes of converfe. Though 
surrounded on all hands with the footprints and 
manifeftations of a prefent Divinity, my befitting 
exclamation is, " Canjl thou by searching find out 
Godr (Job xi. 7.) 

In Heaven there is to be a vaft revelation 
of a " hidden God." In the Temple on earth, 
He was screened by an interpofmg veil ; — that 
veil in glory is to be withdrawn. Nay, I am to 
be en/Jirined in Deity ! Heaven is not to be so 
much the temple of God, as God the temple of 
Heaven. His attributes are to be the walls and 
bulwarks of my everlafting security. 

But this verfe of our prefent Meditation tells 
us more than this. Jefus " the Lamb" is to form 
the " Gate Beautiful " of this Temple — the 
Revealer of Him who dwells " in the light which 
no man can approach tmio /" (1 Tim. vi. 16.) 

We believe it will be as true of the glorified 
saint, as of the ranfomed on earth, "No man 



1 64 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

hath seen God at any time : the only-begotten SON 
which is in the bofom of the Father he hath de- 
clared him" (John i. iS.) He will be the true 
Angel " standing in the sun," the all-glorious 
medium through which we can see God and live! 

" The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are 
the temple thereof 7" This tells me that all my 
knowledge will come dii'eft from God in Chrifl. 
Now, there is needed the intervention of the 
Word, Ordinances, Sacraments. Then, the spi- 
ritual world will no more be lighted up by sa- 
tellites ; the " fairnefs of the moon " will give 
way to the " brightnefs of the Sun ;" — the star- 
light will be quenched and superfeded by the 
Great Spiritual Luminary. " You have but 
now and then seen your Beloved looking through 
the lattice of ordinances, — what a burfl of joy 
awaits you when you shall see Him face to face, 
and evermore be with Him ! " * 

Yes, indeed, ineffable blifs ! fulnefs of joy! 
No more yearning defires after "something 
better;" — the infinite all-satisfying "good" at- 
tained ; — as happy as everlafling goodnefs and 
* Mifs Plumptre. 



NO TEMPLE. I65 

wisdom and omnipotence can make me. My 
feeble voice swelling the joyous anthem within 
temple-walls whofe only confines are light and 
love. 

Is my title clear to this glorious Heaven ? 
Am I fitted now to be the inhabitant of such 
a Temple ? — to dwell with God, (yea, in God,) 
occupying these inner chambers of Deity ? 
Heaven is a City. It is an amazing privilege 
the thought of reigning there as King. But 
not lefs elevating, surely, the thought of Heaven 
as a Temple, where I shall be occupied as a 
miniftering prieft, — " a prieft unto God" — ready 
to caft my cenfer as well as my crown at His 
feet, and " offer the sacrifice of praife con- 
tinually !" 

Be it mine to prepare for the sacerdotal work. 
" Holinefs to the Lord" was written on the high 
prieft's frontlet of old. Let it be my superfcrip- 
tion now. Let the eye of faith delight to dwell 
efpecially on the great High Prieft — He who, as 
the Covenant Angel, is interceding for me ; and 
who, through eternity, will form the blood-be- 
fprinkled entrance, — the ever-open gate conduft- 



1 66 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

ing into the Holy Place. There may, and 
doubtlefs will be many other lofty anthems that 
shall refound in that temple ; but " Worthy is 
the Lamb that was slain" will ever be the 
sublimeft chant of the Church of the firft-born. 
We shall exult in its other glories. But it will 
be the inscription over the portal that will be 
the theme of eternity — " Boldnefs to enter into 
the holieft by the blood of Jefus!' 

"Far beyond the grave's dark night, 
What bright Temple meets my sight ? 
Softly stealing on the ear, 
What strange mufic do I hear ? 
'Tis the golden harps on high, 
'Tis the chorus of the sky ! 

" Give my soul the spotlefs drefs 
Of Thy perfect righteousnefs ; 
Then, at length, a welcome gueft, 
I shall enter to the feaft, 
Take the harp and raife the song, 
All Thy ranfom'd ones among/' 



^a^> 




XIX. 





dje dPlorious ^rangitioru 



u There stiil my thoughts are dwelling, 
'Tis there I long to be ; 
Come, Lord, and call Thy servant 

To bleffednefs with Thee ! 
Come, bid my toils be ended — 
Let all my wanderings ceafe ; 
Call from the wayside lodging 
To the sweet home of peace." 

Gerhardt. 

u Abfent from the body, and to be prefent with the 
Lord."— 2 COR. v. 8. 




GAIN the curtain of glory is lifted, and 
what do we see ? The emancipated 
spirit burfting its chrysalis shell — soar- 
ing upwards on immortal wings to be "with the 
Lord," and that " for ever!" We are interefted 
in the firft look we get of "a great man" on 
earth. What mufh the firft glance be in heaven 
of JESUS ! — that mystic name which has here 



1 68 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

put mufic into the heart in many a dark hour, 
and lighted up its wildernefs with a halo of 
ioy! If Jacob longed intently to see Jofeph, 
what will be the saint's ardent defire to gaze on 
the true Jofeph — Him w T hom his "soul loveth !" 
Yes, on entering heaven, it will not be the 
burning ranks of angel and archangel, cheru- 
bim and seraphim, that will fix his arretted gaze. 
His exclamation will be, as his eye winders 
upwards to the central Throne, and settles on 
a Countenance there beaming with unutterable 
lovelinefs, — " Is that indeed the Saviour, whom, 
though so long unfeen, I have neverthelefs 
loved!" 

And what shall he see ? It will be the same 
Lord to whofe sublime utterances of love he has 
so often liftened in thought, as eighteen hun- 
dred years ago He " spake as never man spake." 
The same Being who wept, and groaned, and 
sympathifed, and suffered. He will think of 
Him at Sychar's well — on Tabor — on Tiberias 
— on Olivet — by the Kedron — at Bethany — at 
Calvary. It is " that same J ejus " — He who once 
lay, in a borrowed cradle, a helplefs babe at 



THE GLORIOUS TRANSITION. 169 

Bethlehem ; He who spake comfortable words 
to the bereaved, and gave back to widowed and 
yearning hearts their perifhed joys ; He who 
invited the weary to reft, and never scorned the 
penitent's tears, or left unfuccoured the call of 
mercy ; He who lay convulfed in anguifh on 
the cold ground of Gethfemane ; He who bowed 
His head on the bitter tree ; He who met 
the weeping Mary with words of joy as she 
stood difconfolate by His grave, and accofted 
Peter with the gentlefh and moft tender of 
rebukes. I shall see (if I be one of His ran- 
somed people) " that same J ef its" — I shall enjoy 
with Him near and confidential intercourfe, and 
nothing shall ever separate me from His love ! 

Of old, some of the tranfient earthly glimpfes 
of this Saviour were bleffed and confoling. If 
it were gladdening when Jacob saw Him in His 
angel-form at Peniel — or aged Simeon clafped 
Him in his withered arms in the temple — or the 
difciples beheld Him on Tabor — or Martha and 
Mary wept with Him at Bethany — or when the 
beloved apoftle leant on His bofom, met Him 
on the way to Emmaus, or on the lonely shores 



170 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

of Patmos ; what will it be to have thefe seafons 
of intercourfe renewed without their tranfience ; 
— to bafk through eternal years under the radi- 
ance of His smile, — His own words obtaining an 
everlafting fulfilment — " Where I AM, there shall 
alfo my serva?it be /" Here, too, we are again 
reminded that means and agencies will be re- 
quired no longer in His communications with us. 
The streams will come welling frefh from the 
living fountain ; — the rays will be untainted and 
undimmed by tranfmiffion through any impurer 
medium ; — there will be perfonal communings 
between every saint and his living Head, — " They 
shall see His face!' Whatever may be the be- 
liever's relation to the infinite circumference of 
heaven — to the thrones, and dominions, and 
principalities, and powers — he will be ever near 
to the all-glorious Centre ! " He," it has been 
w r ell said, " who is now in every saint the hope 
of glory, w T ill then be in every saint the poffes- 
sion, realifation, and fulnefs of glory."* 

And, obferve from our motto verfe, it is an 
immediate tranfition. The spirit, " with a bound," 
* Cheever's " Windings." 



THE GLORIOUS TRANSITION. 171 

at the hour of death, as it forfekes its earthly 
tabernacle, enters the Divine presence and the 
heavenly Home. Be affured, Paul would never 
have uttered the wifh for departure, in order to 
lapfe into a mefmeric trance or lethargic {lum- 
ber. Never would he have ufed such language 
as this, — " We are confident" (we are bold, as the 
word means, in the profpect of death) " ' and will- 
ing rather to be abfent from the body" if he had 
any lefs elevating defire and profpect than to 
be "prcfent with the Lord!' Far rather would 
he have remained on earth, enjoying the bleffed 
experiences of the Saviour's felt prefence and 
love, and the confciousnefs of promoting His 
caufe, than to have paffed into a state of dreamy, 
drowsy infenfibility and torpor. The exchange, 
in such circumftances, would have been a pofi- 
tive diminution of bleffednefs. It would have 
been the withdrawal from active work and 
warfare in the Church below, — an inglorious 
tranfition for his hero-spirit. Dungeon, chains, 
watching, fafting, stripes and sufferings with 
Chrift on earth, would have been, to a soul like 
his, infinitely preferable to such a state of slum- 



1/2 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

brous oblivion . and unconfcioufnefs. But he 
specially guards us againft any such suppo- 
fition : " Not" says he, "for that we would be 
unclothed" — not that I long merely to quit the 
trammels of the flefh, in order to efcape from 
the encumbering clay — " but to be clothed upon, 
that mortality might be szvallowed up of life" 
(2 Cor. v. 4.) 

Am I prepared for this prefence ? am I living 
under the power of this " blejfed hope?" Were 
I to be ufhered into the prefence of an earthly 
sovereign, how careful should I be in my pre- 
paration for so auguft a privilege ! What shall 
it be in the profpect of appearing before Him 
in comparifon with whom the loftieft monarch 
of earth is but as a paffing shadow — an atom of 
duft — the mote of a sunbeam! u Prefent with 
the Lord!" What an honour ! The brighteft of 
thofe bright and holy beings who bow before 
His throne with adoring reverence, know no 
higher! "It is not here," says the author of 
the "Saint's Reft," "that He hath prepared 
the prefence-chamber of His glory ; He hath 
drawn the curtain between us and Him ; we are 



THE GLORIOUS TRANSITION. 1 73 

far from Him as creatures, and farther as frail 
mortals, and fartheft as sinners." Death is the 
robing-room, where the ragged pilgrim-garment 
is thrown off, and where, as glorified guefts, we 
shall receive our wedding attire. But the barrier 
shall in due time be taken down, and we shall 
be ufhered amid the uncurtained splendours of 
the "new heavens and the new earth." Then 
shall His own voice be heard announcing the 
believer's consummated blifs, and its mightieft 
element — "Enter thou into the joy of THY LORD." 

" The pains of death are paft, 
Labour and sorrow ceafe ; 
And life's long warfare clofed at laft, 
His soul is found in peace. 

" Soldier of Chrifl, well done ! 
Praife be thy new employ ; 
And while eternal ages run, 
Reft in thy Saviour's joy." 




XX. 




"Every voice is then harmonious, 
Praifing God in hymns symphonious, 
Love each heart with light enfolding, 
As they stand in peace beholding 
There the Triune-Deity!" 

Thomas a Kempis. 



"God . . 



all in all." — I Cor. xv. 28. 




[E may shift and alter the heavenly 
kaleidoscope, but God is still the centre 
of its ineffable blifs — " the glory of its 
glory.'' In union and communion with Him 
alone, will the longings of the immortal spirit be 
at length fully and for ever satisfied. 

Exiftence is one long-drawn sigh after some 
infinite good. The difciples of Plato, in their 
gropings in the dark, afpired after a myftic, un- 
defined Pleroma or " Fulnefs," the poffeffion of 
which was affociated with perfect happinefs. 



176 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

This mythical dream of pagan philofophy has 
its reality in "the fulnefs of Him that filleth all 
in all." Here we have at beft only some feeble 
foretaftes of the " fulnefs of God" — some sips at 
the earthly fountain ; — what shall it be when we 
come to stand on the margin of the infinite 
ocean ! Afk the angels who are now peopling 
that world of blifs — or the myriads of ranfomed 
saints whofe probation is finifhed and their 
glorification begun, in what their supreme happi- 
nefs confifts. Their refponfe would be in words 
they had often before ufed, but whofe true mean- 
ing they had only learned in Glory — " It is good 
for us to draw 7iear ttnto GOD," (Ps. lxxiii. 28.) 

The beft earthly types of Heaven in Scripture 
were defignedly imperfeft. How often, for ex- 
ample, was the earthly Zion spoken of as the 
pattern and image of the Heavenly. But even in 
this "perfection of beauty" there were defe6ls 
and blemifhes. No river (save the tinieft of 
brooks) flowed paft its walls. No war-galley (as 
in other earthly capitals) was ever seen sailing 
by, or ship of commerce unlading its stores. 
"But," says God, in beautiful allufion to thefe 



THE ALL IN ALL. 1 77 

wants in the earthly Zion, "I shall come in 

place of them in the Jerufalem above." " The 

glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers 

and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, 

neither shall gallant ship pafs thereby" (Ifa. 

xxxiii. 21.) All other j oy s will be but reflections 

of the Great joy. We shall be independent 

of starlight bleffings when we have the central 

sun — of the rivulet when we have the ocean. 

Were the alternative prefented, rather would 

the ranks of the glorified have God without 

Heaven, than Heaven without God. There will 

be a devout confeioufnefs throughout all their 

wide circle of a sweet and holy dependence on 

Him. They will never forget the pilgrim prayer 

of earth — " Hold Thou me up, and I shall be 

safe," (Ps. cxix. 117.) They will feel, even with 

the crown on their head and the victor-song on 

their lips, that it is He alone who maketh them 

to dwell in safety, (Ps. iv. 8.) They will live 

upon no graces. Penfioners on earth, they will 

exult in the feeling that they are penfioners 

still. The confeflion of time will be the anthem 

M 



178 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

of eternity — " By the grace of God we are what 
we are," (Rom. xv. 10.) 

We read of the saints that, glorified though 
they be, they still <( fall down before the throne," 
(Rev. iv. 10.) Their afcription, crowned though 
they be, is this, " Salvation to oar God who sit- 
teth upon the throne" (Rev. vii. 10.) The stream 
may sooner do without its fountain — the parched 
furrow without its refrefhing shower — the firma- 
ment without its sun — than they without Him 
who is the source and fountain-head of all life, 
and light, and joy. " God him/elf shall be with 
them and be their God, and they shall see His 
face" (Rev. xxi. 3.) The infinite centre of an 
infinite circumference, they shall love all in Him, 
and Him in all ! Not more surely on earth do 
the rivers run to the ocean, than in Heaven will 
every afpiration of the Church triumphant be 
turned Godward ; and it will be our happinefs 
thus supremely to love, — supremely to adore 
Him. Here, how often, how conftantly, has the 
Chriftian to watch over the objects of his love, 
left ever and anon he be betrayed into some sin- 



THE ALL IN ALL. 1 79 

ful excefs of idolatrous attachment. There will 
be no such bound set in Heaven, becaufe no such 
need for it. What a glory it imparts to the soul 
of man, — what an ennobling confcioufnefs it 
gives of our true dignity, — future communion 
with % yea, future affimilation to, the great Jeho- 
vah ! — gravitating towards Him as an all-glo- 
rious centre; — the aim and objeft of an infinite 
exiflence, perfe£tly to pleafe Him ! 

Let me prepare for this lofty deftiny, by mak- 
ing God more than ever "the portion of mine 
inheritance;" having a more conftant and habi- 
tual aim that His will and glory be the regulators 
of my daily being. This was my Saviour's defire 
for Himfelf. It conftituted the happinefs of His 
spotlefs life, — doing His Father's will and not His 
own. "I do think," says Lady Powerscourt, "one 
chief part of our happinefs hereafter will confift 
in our having done with wretched self, — God 
being all in all." Oh! what a solemnifing in- 
fluence would it exert on all our thoughts and 
feelings, our duties and engagements, our purfuits 
and pleafures, our sleeping and waking, our airy 



I SO GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

vifions and worldly plans, were we to think that 
soon — very soon — we shall be with God, and that 
forever and ever! 

" Bleffed fold ! no foe can enter, 
And no friend departeth thence : 
God Himfelf their Sun, their Centre, 
And their Shield Omnipotence. 

a Thought, reprefs thy weak endeavour, 
Here mufl Reafon proftrate fall ; 
Oh th' ineffable for ever, 
And th' eternal ALL in all !" 




XXL 




w™ 5 * 



" The storm's black wing 
is never spread athwart celeftial skies ; 
Its wailings blend not with the voice of spring, 
As some too tender flowret fades and dies. 

" With Hope our guide, 
White-robed and innocent, to tread the way, 
Why fear to plunge in Jordan's rolling tide, 
And find the haven of eternal day ?" 

" For I reckon, that the sufferings of this prefent time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall 
be revealed in us." — Rom. viii. 18. 



[HUS does a mafter-hand strike the 
balance between prefent sufferings and 
future glory. "/ reckon" (I make the 
calculation, and the deliberate refult is), that 
the trials of earth are not to be named in con- 
trail or comparifon with the peerlefs joys of 
Heaven. 

The great Apoftle was one specially fitted to 
make such a calculation. He was abundantly 



1 82 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

verfant himfelf in the school of suffering, and 
well able therefore to caft up the balance-sheet. 
Few pilgrims that ever trod the lower valley, 
were more honoured than he ; but few had 
greater weights to carry. He felt, however, that 
all thefe earthly weights added together and 
combined, were far outweighed by one other, and 
that was the " weight of glory r 

His language here is remarkable. He infti- 
tutes a comparison between prefent suffering 
and future blifs — two things which we may think 
cannot well be compared. May not the follow- 
ing have been a few points of antithesis which 
suggefted themfelves, as His mind made the 
san6lified reckoning ? 

All present sufferings have intervals of releafe. 
There are lulls in the storm. The fevered 
patient may have his snatches of repofe, fitful 
and unrefrefhing though they be. But in the 
glory that is to follow, there are no intervals, no 
lulls, no ebbings in the ever-advancing tide of 
happinefs and joy. 

hi the sufferings of this life there are many alle- 
viations. The bittereft cup is mingled with some 



SUFFERING AND GLORY. 1 83 

sweet drops — the moft aching soul is seldom 
without some supporting solaces. But the glory 
which follows knows no modifications. The 
golden veffels there are indeed always filling — 
always increafmg, but they are always full. 
The "juft made perfeft," though ever aspiring 
after frefh draughts of the living fountain, will 
never be heard uttering the voice of complaint 
— " Oh, that it were with me as in months paft !" 
The glory is a progreffive glory — the joy a pro- 
greffive joy ;— their change is a change for the 
better, never for the worfe. 

The sufferings of the present \ in the cafe of the 
believer, much as they may cloud and darken 
his earthly and outward happinefs, cannot affect 
the unaffailable blifs of his inner life. But the 
heavenly glory will interpenetrate alike his outer 
and his inner being. He will be steeped in blifs. 
He will have around and on every side of him a 
glory which imagination has never ventured to 
conceive, — while his glorified spirit will reflect, 
without speck or stain, the image of an all-glorious 
God!* 

* See Rev. Robert Hall on this verfe. 



1 84 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

" The sufferings of the present !" Go up to 
that bright and glorious multitude harping with 
their harps, and crowding the shores of the glaffy 
sea. Hear their one, united teftimony. It is, 
that but for their trials they would never have 
been there. Every page in their hiftory bears 
the signet-mark of " much tribulation." It is 
endorfed with the words, " So He brought them 
to their dejired haven!" "So!" It was by a 
way not of their own choofing. " So /" It was 
through winds, and waves, and buffeting ele- 
ments ; — the ship tacking about ;— " neither sun 
nor stars for many days appeared, and no 
small tempeft lay upon them." They love now 
to trace all the myftic windings in that untoward 
voyage ; the " deep calling to deep,"- — the wave 
refponding to wave. They love to think, " It 
was thus He brought me!" There was a time 
when I was prone to queftion His wifdom — to 
arraign His faithfulnefs ; but now, I could not 
have wanted one thorn, one bitter drop, one 
tear. As the contrary winds which carry high 
the migratory birds are found in reality to affift 
their flight : so with the soul ; when the winds 



SUFFERING AND GLORY. 185 

are contrary — the storm beating fiercely, — it 
only leads it to soar higher and higher — upwards 
and heavenwards — further from earth — nearer 
its God ! Oh, if we only saw our trials, not 
through the mifty haze of this world, but in the 
light of eternity; the reckoning would not be 
this, how little they have been, but how precious 
they have been ! How all (yes, all) were needed 
to effe<5t the defired end, all were compofite parts 
of one way, and that way was love ! It is with 
the believer as with the diamond ; the more 
facets there are, the brighter it sparkles ; — so, the 
more the tools of sanctified affliction have been 
on him, the brighter and more glorioufly will he 
shine in heaven ! 

Let me seek, then, to look beyond thefe portals 
of sadnefs, and repofe on the glory that is to be 
revealed. Soon the curfew-bell of time w r ill toll, 
telling that the fires of affliction and trial are 
extinguished for ever, and that the weary and 
jaded citizens — the weary Church — may now 
retire to the reft which remaineth for the people of 
God ! " Live in Chrift," says Rutherford, " and 
you are in the suburbs of heaven. There is but 



1 86 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

a thin wall between you and the land of praifes. 
Ye are within one hour's sailing of the shore of 
the new Canaan. ,, 

It is a mighty proceffion that is sweeping 
onwards to the Land of Promife. A sainted 
writer has beautifully compared it to the vaft 
hoft of Ifrael entering the earthly Canaan. 
Some had croffed Jordan ; their footfteps were 
treading the covenanted soil, the land of the 
patriarchs — others were paffing through the river- 
channel, the waters standing up to make a way 
"for the ranfomed to pafs over;" — others were 
patiently occupying their allotted place in the 
rear, until thofe that preceded them had traverfed 
the dry bed of the border river. But all were 
moving on ; and thofe furtheft behind knew that 
every tread of their footftep was bringing them 
nearer the moment when their defert trials and 
privations would be at an end, and their voices 
too would blend in the song of viftory. And 
so it is with the Church of God on earth. Some 
are already in heaven ; — the glorified, safe on the 
Canaan side. Some are at this moment croffing 



* SUFFERING AND GLORY. 1 87 

the Jordan of death — the dark river separating 
the wildernefs from the heavenly land. Some 
are still in the pilgrim rear, amid the smoulder- 
ing fires and afhes of their encampment, cafting 
a longing glance towards thofe who have already 
begun their everlafting^fcription of praife. But 
the mighty mafs moves on ! The defert is re- 
treating and the heavenly shores are nearing. 
Thoufands on thoufands of the ranfomed Ifrael 
of God are already safe landed, — "clean efcaped," 
and their triumphant song should only infpire 
us with frefh ardour to follow their steps and 
share their crowns ! The true Jofhua-Jefus, the 
Heavenly Precurfor, is even now standing on the 
celeftial shore, and to every faint and toil-worn 
traveller proclaiming, " Thefe sufferings are not 
to be compared with the glory about to be re- 
vealed!" 

How the thought of that bleffed Heaven of 
eternal refpite and reft, should reconcile me 
to any trial the Lord may see meet to lay 
upon me here ! It was the profpe6l of future 
glory which led this heavenly reckoner to 



1 88 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

make so little of his earthly trials. He called 
that a " light affliction" which he had borne for 
thirty years ! 

Let me often school myfelf in the devout 
arithmetic of the tried Apoftle — putting all my 
trials into one scale, and all the bleffings, from 
grace to glory, which my God beftows, into the 
other, and then dare I murmur ? 

Lord ! it is my prayer that my trial (my 
peculiar trial), be what it may, may be sanctified. 
It is a " muffled drum" in the march of life; but 
it is beating "Home, brothers! home!" Let 
every promife of Scripture seem as if a bright 
angel hung out from the skies a guiding signal, 
saying, " The darknefs will soon be paft, and the 
true light will shine !" " Yet a little while, and 
He that shall come will come, and will not tarry," 
and then, the reckonings of earthly trial will give 
way to the reckonings of unending blifs. The 
voice of the Beloved will thus be heard calling 
on His weeping Bride to dry every tear and 
prepare for a tearlefs home — u Lo, the winter is 
pajl } the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear 
on the earth. The time of the singing of birds is 



SUFFERING AND GLORY. 1 89 

come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land. Arife, my love, my fair one, and come 
away /" (Song of Sol. ii. 12.) 

" Where'er my path 
On earth shall lead, I '11 keep a netting bough 
For Hope, the song-bird, and with cheerful step 
Hold on my pilgrimage, remembering where 
Flowers have no autumn-languor, Eden's gate 
No flaming sword, to guard the tree of life." 




XXII. 




44 Open is the starry hall ; 
Hear ye ! 'tis the Bridegroom's call ! 
Holy virgins, one and all, 

Ready stand, 
For the heavenly feftival 

Is at hand! 

" Come at laft the nuptial day ; 
Tears for ever paff'd away — 
Fled the prifon-houfe — the clay, 

And the thrall ; 
Chrift for ever your sure stay, 

And your all!" 

" Bleffed are they that are called to the marriage-supper 
of the Lamb." — Rev. xix. 9. 

[NDER a new and beautiful symbol, we 
are called to behold Jefus as the Hea- 
venly Bridegroom, seated at His own 
marriage-feaft, summoning His glorified guefts 
around Him! — the true Solomon, " crowned in 
the day of His efpoufals, and the day of the 




192 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

gladnefs of His heart !" (Song of Sol. Hi. 11.) 
" Alone," says a writer, " in the depths of eter- 
nity stood Chrift and His Church before the 
altar of that divine efpoufal ; none was witnefs 
but the Father and the Holy Spirit when the 
vow was plighted, and the contract sealed."* 
But all Heaven is now to be spectator of the 
gladfome confummation. The bridal-day is 
come ! He has "sent His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to 
the other," and lo ! a multitude which no man 
can number, " all-glorious within, their clothing 
of wrought gold," are seen paffing through the 
gates of the city "with gladnefs and rejoicing," 
on their way to the King's palace ! The Eride 
for six thoufand weary years has been calling 
for her Lord to " Come /" The voice of the Be- 
loved has at laft been heard ; the King has 
" brought her into His banqueting-houfe, and His 
banner over her is love /" (Song of Sol. ii. 4.) 

In that scene of feftive joy, behold — 

(1.) Jefus glorified. 

* Butler. 



THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER. 193 

" He shall see of the travail of His soul, and 
shall be satisfied!" Oh, what a moment of joy- 
will that be to the Church's Divine Head, when 
all His blood-bought people (not one of the 
sealed myriads wanting) shall be affembled with 
Him to share His blifs ; — " betrothed unto Him 
for ever ; " — " prefented a glorious Church, not 
having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing!" 
If "Wifdom" rejoiced in the mere antieipatioji 
of redemption, — if even then His " delights 
were with the sons of men " dwelling in " the ha- 
bitable parts of the earth," (Prov. viii. 31,) what 
will the rejoicing be, when the vaft undertaking 
is all completed, and the trophies of His grace are 
seated by His side ! What a new and more 
glorious meaning will be given to His words of 
interceffion on earth: u All thine are mute, and 
mine are thine, and I am glorified in them /" 
(John xvii. 10.) It is their glory and joy in 
which much of His own mediatorial happinefs 
will confift. As "the Mafter," He girds Him- 
self at the marriage-feaft, and " comes forth to 
serve them," (Luke xii. 37.) He has them in 

view in His every thought of Heaven: "I go 

N 



194 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

to prepare a place for you> . . . that where / am, 
there j^ may be alfo " — " I shall drink no more of 
the fruit of the vine until / drink it new with 
you in my Father's kingdom," (John xiv. 2, 3 ; 
Matt. xxvi. 29.) 

(2.) Behold the Church glorified. 

"Called" to the Mafter's immediate prefence, 
not to eat of the crumbs falling from His table, 
but of the children's bread ; to see His face ; 
to participate in His triumph ; and with faith 
changed into sight, and hope into full fruition, 
to exclaim, "My Beloved is mine, and I am 
his!" (Song of Sol. ii. 16.) 

Seated at the supper-table ! What nearnefs 
and intimacy of fellowfhip is here indicated ! 
Even on earth, the believer's moft blissful hours 
are thofe spent in intimate communion with his 
Lord. How the pain and wearinefs of the sick- 
bed are alleviated — how the pang of the crufh- 
ing bereavement has been mitigated, by that 
Presence and Name which puts mufic and joy 
into the saddeft heart ! What will it be in glory, 
with no sin to mar our intercourfe, and no sor- 
row to dim our eye, — the confummated union 



THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER. 195 

and communion of everlafting love ! Truly, the 
glorified guefts will be able to say to their hea- 
venly Lord, as was said in His hearing at a 
marriage-feaft on earth, "Thou haft kept the 
beft wine till now !" (John ii. 10.) On that coro- 
nation-day of the Church triumphant, angels 
will liften with amazement, as each ranfomed 
one tells the story of blended grace and faith- 
fulnefs ;— principalities and powers will stoop to 
hear the Church's perpetual Te Deum, the key- 
note of which will be, " the manifold wifdom of 
God!" (Eph. iii. 10.) It will not be with the 
difciples in heaven as with the difciples below. 
When they got a momentary glimpfe of their 
Lord's glory on Tabor, we read, "They feared 
as they entered the cloud," (Luke ix. 34.) Per- 
fect love will then caft out fear. It is no Stran- 
ger, — no inacceffible, awe-infpiring Being who 
is to gather them around Him. It will indeed 
be a day of Kingly efpoufals. On His head 
there will be " many crowns." The Bride will 
"enter the King's palace," (Ps. xlv. 15.) It 
will be a regal — a coronation anthem that will 
be sung by the lips of the hundred and forty- 



196 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

four thoufand, " Alleluia, for the Lord God omni- 
potent REIGNETH," (Rev. xix. 6.) But it is alfo 
called the "marriage-supper of the Lamb;" — 
"that same Jefus" who in His perfon is so well 
known to us on earth, — whofe character and 
life are so beautifully and truthfully pourtrayed 
in what we may call His four infpired bio- 
graphies, that w T e seem to feel as if we knew 
Him — knew Him intimately; — had seen Him, — 
had sat with Him on Tiberias' shores, and 
talked with Him at Jacob's well, and wept 
with Him at the Bethany grave ! We en- 
joy to be with thofe who have been kind to 
us; who so kind as i( the MAN Chrijl Jefus!" 
what fellowfhip so blissful as with the all-glo- 
rious One, who hath loved us with a love, in 
comparifon with which the moft endearing 
earthly friendfhip is coldnefs itfelf! How joy- 
ous when He shall meet us at the threfhold of 
glory, and condu£l us to the coronation-hall, to 
receive our crowns, and to become guefts at His 
table ! 

(3.) Behold here a holy and happy meeting be- 
tween guefl and guefl. 



THE MARRIAGE-SUPPER. 197 

The unfeemly eftrangements of the prefent 
will there be unknown for ever. Cold looks, and 
averted faces, and diftant and uncordial recog- 
nitions, will be all at an end. The guefts will 
only wonder they could have allowed petty 
differences to have sundered them so long and 
so strangely below. Like their beloved Lord, 
they will become like one another. Many a 
Chriftian on earth, we believe, is nearer in heart 
and love and sympathy to a brother Chriftian, 
than the conventional diftinftions — the Shib- 
boleth of se6l and party — will permit him to 
avow. In Heaven there will be no such referve. 
The slumbering harmonies of the heart will then 
break forth, without one jarring note. 

Let me delight often to carry my eye onward 
to the celebration of thefe efpoufals — to draw 
afide the world's scenes of painted glory, and 
to get a sight of "the invifible;" — the great 
Sabbath of eternity inaugurated by this nuptial 
feftival, where every redeemed Veffel, like the 
earthly types at Cana, are "filled to the brim ;" 
Jefus, who went forth from His eternal throne 



198 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

as the weeping " Man of sorrows," now come 
again with rejoicing, to bring all His ranfomed 
sheaves with Him ! fPs. cxxvi. 6.) 

"Wilt thou not/' says Baxter, "be almoft 
ready to draw back, and say, ' What ! I, Lord ? 
I, the unworthy negle6ler of Thy grace, dis- 
efteemer of Thy blood, and slighter of Thy love, 
muft / have this glory ? I am utterly unworthy 
to be called a son.' But Love will have it so. 
Therefore thou muft enter into His joy." 

u The watchers on the mountain 
Proclaim the Bridegroom near ; 
Go, meet Him as He cometh, 
With hallelujahs clear. 

" The marriage-feaft is waiting, 
The gates wide open stand ; 
Up ! up ! ye heirs of glory, 
The Bridegroom is at hand." 




XXIII. 




"Bleffed day which haftens faft, 

End of conflict and of sin, 
Death itfelf shall die at laft, 

Fulnefs of all joy begin. 
Then eternity shall prove 
God is Light and God is Love!" 

" In thy prefence is fulnefs of joy ; at thy right hand there 
are pleafures for evermore." — Ps. xvi. n. 




jjULNESS of joy r Can that be said 
of anything on this side Heaven ? 
There is a reftlefs craving in the hu- 
man bofom for something better than this world 
can give. 

li Although its heart is rich in pearls and ores, 
The sea complains upon a thousand shores ; 
Sea-like, we moan for ever. We are weak — 
We ever hunger for diviner stores." 

There are aching voids — deep, yawning 



200 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

chafms in the soul of man, which the world and 
all its tinfel pleafures can never fill. Hope is 
ever gilding the future with the profpe6t of that 
happinefs which the prefent denies. Lured and 
dazzled, the worldling purfues the phantom. But 
each succeffive failure more painfully convinces 
him that all here is a delufion, an ignis-fatuus 
gleam. Happinefs, the obje6t of his life-search, 
is as far from him as ever ! 

Thefe longings of the heart are only satisfied 
when it finds in God its "fulnefs of joy!' The 
old nature, like the old philofophy, will cleave 
to the world as the centre of its syftem. It holds 
its happinefs to confift in " minding earthly 
things." The new nature, like Copernicus, finds 
out "the secret hid from ages and generations." 
It dethrones a ufurping earth, and makes all its 
affections circle and conftellate around God 
Himfelf, the true "Sun of the soul." What 
will this be in that bleffed world of purity, 
where there will be no difturbing forces to in- 
terfere with the saint's spiritual orbit, or dim and 
darken the emanations from the great Source 
of light and life, happinefs and joy ! Happi- 



THE BRIMMING FOUNTAIN. 201 

nefs even on earth is proportioned to the zvorlhi- 
ncfs of the object on which our hearts are fixed 
in connection with it. What muft be the happi- 
nefs of the glorified spirit which has its affections 
centred on Him who is unfearchable in His 
wifdom, boundlefs in His refources, unchanging 
in His love ! David said regarding earthly 
things — " I have seen an end of all perfection/' 
In Heaven the soul will have, in the enjoyment 
of God, the perfection of blifs. All the perfection 
of earth is finite; that is infinite. All earthly 
blifs has its bounds and limits; in Heaven and 
in God's prefence that blifs will be unbounded. 

Think of the happinefs of having no unfulfilled 
defire, nothing to be dreaded, nothing to be de- 
livered from ! To have the vifion and fruition of 
God to guarantee all, and stamp permanency 
and immutability on every joy. Infecurity is 
the attribute of all worldly joys. Ours to-day, 
they may be gone to-morrow. How the thought 
of the slender tie which binds to life muft haunt 
the idolater of earthly affeCtion! — that in the 
twinkling of an eye the cup of creature-love 
may be dafhed from his lips ; — his moft fondly 



202 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

cherifhed fabric become a heap of humiliating 
ruins! Often in one's happieft moments we have 
(do as we like) the chilling prefentiments of com- 
ing trial — the feeling, A 11 this cannot laft. This 
gladsome mufic, — earth's high holiday, — may 
this night give place to the dirge of sorrow ! 

In Heaven, "our sun shall no more go down." 
No real or imagined evils will loom in a troubled 
future — the mufic of its eternal feftival will never 
be sufpended or hufhed by the intrufion of sadder 
notes. Here, one main source of the believer's 
joy is in the words, "no condemnation!" There, 
it will rather be, "no separation /" His sorrow 
will be turned into joy, and that joy no one will 
take from him. The wheat will be " gathered 
into the garner." So long as it is unharvefted — 
standing in the open field — it is expofed to 
furious winds and corroding rains. But the 
angel-reapers have made it secure. Thefe 
garnered sheaves of blifs are as safe as everlaft- 
ing love and faithfulnefs and power can make 
them! 

And while it is "fnlnefs of joy," (denoting its 
perfection) and " pleafures for evermore/' (denot- 



THE BRIMMING FOUNTAIN. 203 

ing their security) let us not forget the nobler and 
grander attribute of that heavenly blifs — "Jn 
Thy prefencer Is it this which is drawing me 
to Heaven — the profpe6l of being admitted into 
union and communion with my God? Some are 
impatient to leave this world, becaufe they have 
been the victims of difappointed hope and croffed 
afifeftions. In a fit of morbid morofenefs, they 
hate life, and look to the grave as a refuge from 
its ills ! Am I confcious of nobler and loftier 
motives in my heavenward afpirations? Is it 
the thought of seeing GOD, enjoying God, loving 
GOD, which is drawing me there ? Other 
hallowed ties and motives I may have, beckon- 
ing me upwards. Voices huflied on earth may 
be stealing down, in tones of celeftial mufic, from 
the spirit-land;— "The Bride" (the bleffed dead, 
among whom my fondeft earthly memories 
linger) may be saying, " Comer But do I feel that 
even such a sacred incentive as this, is subordi- 
nate to the voice of the Bfidegroom? — that thefe 
are but star-light glories, compared to the 
meridian sun — " the glory that excelleth ?" Oh ! 
how wondrous the thought that God's pleafures 



204 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

are to be my pleafures — that I am to be linked 
through eternity in congeniality of sentiment 
and enjoyment with effential goodnefs, effential 
greatnefs, effential love! I will joy in God, and 
the Lord my God will rejoice over me. He 
shall make me to "drink of the river of His 
pleafures !" (Ps. xxxvi. 8.) 

And soon — very soon — all this happinefs 
may be mine. A few more beats of the pulfe — 
a few more falling grains of the sandglafs, and I 
may be by that river's brink, wafhing off the duft 
and scars of battle, and bathing in the floods of 
ineffable joy! Meanwhile, let me seek to afpire 
after clofer and more intimate communion with 
God, so as to feel that no bleffmg on earth can 
be comparable to His favour, and no lofs equal 
to the forfeiture of His love. Let me often think 
of death as the moment which will admit me 
into the full poffeffion of this transcendent blifs ; 
and see the promifes of the gofpel, like so many 
lights hung out from the windows of my Father's 
houfe, beckoning me Home ! 



THE BRIMMING FOUNTAIN. 

" Onwards, upwards may I move, 
Wafted on the wings of love ; 
Looking, Lord, for Thee to come, 
Longing for my heavenly home ; 
There for ever to remain, 
Partner of Thine endlefs reign ; 
There Thy face unveil'd to see/ 
Find my Heaven of Heaven in Thee !" 



20 < 




XXIV. 




u It seemed not as a dream, and yet I stood 
Befide heaven's gate. Its mighty valves were loofed ; 
And upward, from earth's tribulation, came 
A soul, whofe paflport, signed in Calvary's blood, 
Prevailed. Around the golden threfhold's verge 
I saw the dazzling of celeftial wings 
Trudging to welcome it. The towering form 
Of an archangel bore it company 
Up to God's throne!" 

" To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradife." — 
Luke xxiii. 43. 



m 



HEN shall I be admitted into this glo- 
rious Heaven — to pluck for myfelf the 
Grapes of Efhcol, and enjoy the sweets 
of the true Land of Promife ? Does the hour of 
death ufher me at once into the manfions of my 
heavenly Father ? or is there some intermediate 
state of purification, preparatory to being intro- 
duced into the prefence of the Lord ? Is the 



208 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

difembodied spirit deftined meanwhile to remain 
in dream-land — a condition of unconfcioufnefs 
and torpor — till awoke by the trump of God, 
along with the rifen and glorified body, on the 
refurreclion morning? 

We have already seen, in a previous Medita- 
tion, that the Bible anfwer is explicit. We may 
return for a little, to ponder the same comforting 
theme. There is an H immediate entrance? The 
same moment in which I clofe my eyes on a 
world of sin and suffering, I open them in glory. 
Whenever I pafs through the swellings orjordan, 
my feet shall touch the shores of "the better 
country ;" — that day I am "with Jefus in para- 
dife!" 

St Paul's verdi£t, as we previoufly noted, is 
conclufive : "Having a dejire to depart and to BE 
WITH CHRIST," (Phil. i. 23.) Can we suppofe 
he would have expreffed this longing defire to 
leave his w r ork — to abandon his apoftlefhip — to 
forego the delight of winning souls to Jefus — if 
his spirit, in leaving this earth, was to slumber 
in a state of inaction and unconfcioufnefs till 
the day of God ? We can conceive of no other 



IMMEDIATE ENTRANCE, 209 

poffible confideration but the thought of being 
ufhered into the immediate prefence of his Lord, 
that could make it to him a "gain to die." 
Nothing BUT this inftantaneous beatific vifion 
and fruition could have led him to add the strong 
affertion, " which is far better" (Phil. i. 23.) 

Again, how does he speak of the difiblution 
of the earthly tent (" tabernacle ") ? He seldom 
speaks more confidently. His words are ex- 
preffed in the authoritative and confident for- 
mula of a creed, " We KNOW that if this honfe 
of onr earthly tabernacle is diffolved y we HAVE 
a building of God" (2 Cor. v. I.) The pin is 
taken out — the cord is slipped — the tent is down ! 
But " immediately " a nobler and more imperifh- 
able structure rifes — " an hotife not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens /" 

Why would he urge, in another place, — as an 

incentive to believers to run the Chriftian race, — 

that they are gazed upon by a cloud of sainted 

witneffes, (Heb. xii.,) (mentioned in the previous 

context,) if "the spirits of the juft" remain in a 

state of unconfcioufnefs till the final refurrec- 

tion ? 





210 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Can we suppofe that Stephen, as he gazed 
upwards from his martyr-pillow on " the general 
affembly and church of the firR-born," uttered 
an unanswered prayer, when he said, "Lord 
Jefus, receive my spirit" ? (Acts viii. 59.) Nay, 
rather, when he saw his Lord " standi7ig at the 
right hand of God," can we think the beauti- 
ful comment of Chryfoflom an unnatural one, 
that the Saviour rofe and stooped from His 
throne, to receive with outftretched arms the 
spirit of the firft of that " noble army of 
martyrs," who were afterwards to " praife Him?" 

Our bleffed Lord's own teaching is all con- 
firmatory of the same view. It was no mere 
accidental drapery, surely, in the parable of the 
rich man and Lazarus, but an effential part of 
the truth it was intended to convey, when the 
angels are reprefented as carrying the spirit of 
the beggar into Abraham's bofom ; and His 
words here to the dying thief are themfelves 
(independent of all other proof) sufficient to set 
at reft this comforting affurance, that the gate of 
death and the gate of glory are one ! 

Vijion adds its atteftation to parable — for the 



IMMEDIATE ENTRANCE. 2 1 1 

ranfomed multitude are reprefented now in 
glory, " standing before the throne" with "palms 
in their hands," (Rev. vii. 9.) Thrice bleffed 
thought ! The uncaged spirit will all at once 
fly upwards to neftle in the golden eaves of 
Heaven ! The saint, when he enters glory, can 
say, in the words of one of earth's infpired 
songs regarding the death-bed he has juft left, 
" / laid me down and slept — / awaked, for the 
Lord suflained me !" (Ps. iii. 5.) " This is none 
other than the hoiife of God, this is the gate of 
heaven /" (Gen. xxviii. 17.) "Faithful souls," 
says Richard Baxter, " no sooner leave their 
pinions of flefh, but angels will be their convoy, 
Chrift, with all the perfe6led spirits of the juft, 
will be their companions, heaven will be their 
refidence, and God their happinefs." No wonder 
that St Paul with such a bleffed certainty could 
say, " We are CONFIDENT and WILLING rather to 
be abfent from the body and PRESENT WITH THE 
Lord," (2 Cor. v. 8.) 

It is true, indeed, that though "the souls of 
believers are at death made perfect in holinefs, 
and do immediately pafs into glory," their ftdl 



212 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

and perfe£l glorification does not then take place. 
The great coronation-day of the Church trium- 
phant muft come, before the saint (" complete 
in Chrift ") be inverted with all his purchafed 
privileges. The body till then, slumbers in 
weaknefs and difhonour. Its reunion with the 
spirit muft take place, — the grave muft be rifled of 
its treafures, — ere the Divine Vi£tor have reaped 
in all His trophies, and the believer receive full 
inveftiture of his rights. A writer beautifully 
speaks of the " bleffed dead," as " a silent and 
veiled company, like the gathering worfhippers 
of earth refting side by side till the bells ceafe, 
and vacant places fill, and all begin to sing one 
anthem." But be their prefent intermediate con- 
dition (shall we call it) what it may, they are 
with Chrift — that is enough. 

" With me /" Safe in the prefence of their ador- 
able Redeemer. The needle at laft fixed true 
to its pole — all the old earthly vibrations and 
ofcillations at an end ; — the ship, with all its 
toffings over, has reached its port, caft anchor in 
" the Rock " within the veil ! The sun-flower 
drooped only for a moment in the evening of 



IMMEDIATE ENTRANCE. 2 1 3 

life, as the death-shades fell over it. But the 
morning of glory dawns ; — The Sun of Right- 
eoufnefs shines; and in His " unfetting beams " 
the leaves expand again, in unfading and undy- 
ing glory. " With ME !" Chrift in our nature, our 
Friend, our Brother ! We are happy on earth 
in the prefence of thofe who have befriended 
us, and given us proofs of kindnefs and affedtion. 
Who has ever been friend or brother to us like 
Jefus ? Eternity is a solemn word. Death ufhers 
into an untravelled country. The soul mounts 
in its arrowy flight into a region which " eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard." BUT Chrift is there ; 
and that affurance inverts it with a home-like 
afpeft. I need not fear the fords of Jordan, 
when there is a well-known voice heard on the 
farther shores, — "Fear not! It is I ! Be not 
afraid /" (Matt. xiv. 27.) 

Let me look forward, then, with bounding 
heart, to the hour of death, as the hour of my 
entrance on endlefs blifs, the birthday of eter- 
nity. Oh, if there was "joy in heaven among 
the angels of God " at the hour of converfion, 
what will it be at the hour of glorification! If 



214 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

God the Father even on earth has joy in seeing 
His returning prodigal ; what will it be when 
He welcomes him to his everlafting home! "He 
will rejoice over him with joy ; He will reft in 
His love ; He will rejoice over him with singing" 
(Zeph. iil 17.) The Redeemer utters His inter- 
ceffory prayer over the death-bed on earth — 
"Father, I will that this one whom tJion hast 
given me be with me where I am, to behold my 
glory!' The prayer is heard ; — the angels are 
sent down ; — and, swift as the volleyed light- 
ning leaps from the cloud, THAT HOUR, and for 
ever t lie is "with Jefns in paradife /" 




XXV. 




u When this aching heart shall reft, 

All its bufy pulfes o'er, 
From her mortal robes undrefl, 

Shall my spirit upward soar ; 
Then shall ever-growing joy 
All my thoughts and powers employ, 

"Jefus reigns— the life, the sun, 
Of that wondrous world above ; 
All the clouds and storms are gone — 

All is light, and all is love. 
All the shadows melt away 
In the blaze of glorious day." 

Lange. 

" The path of the juft is as the shining light, that 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day." — Prov. 
iv. 1 8. 



mi 



S the Believer's path on earth is, or ought 
to be, a progreffive one, in knowledge, 
love, happinefs, and joy ; so, in a loftier 
and more ennobling senfe, will it be in a future 
world. The sun of his blifs will ever be climb- 




2l6 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

ing higher and higher the firmament, but yet 
never attaining its full meridian. Heaven, in- 
deed, as we have seen in a former Meditation, 
would be wanting in one chief element of happi- 
nefs were advancement unknown. The glorified 
spirit, conftituted as our feelings at prefent are, 
would not be satisfied with a stationary blifs. 
"Perfect security from all danger of a change for 
the worfe, is a highly gratifying idea ; but the ex- 
pectation of a change for the better, is an effential 
ingredient in all our prefent notions of happi- 
nefs."* The Redeemed in heaven — "veffels of 
glory " " fitted for the Matter's ufe "—while they 
will be always filled, yet, if it seem not a para- 
dox, they will be always filling ; — ever increafing 
in the divine knowledge and likenefs, progreffing 
along the line of infinite bleffednefs flowing from 
God's prefence and smile. 

It is the privilege of the believer, even in this 
world, to be ever afpiring after a more intimate 
acquaintance with the Divine character, works, 
and ways. David y notwithftanding all that he 
had seen of Jehovah, says, " My soul THIRSTETH 
* Whately. 



FROM GLORY TO GLORY. 2\J 

FOR God," (Ps. xlii. 2.) Paul, notwithftanding 
his exalted attainments, prays, " That I MAY 
KNOW HlM," (Phil. iii. 10.) The whole Chriftian 
difpenfation, from the earlieft times till now, has 
been progrcffive in its character. Thofe living 
anterior to the flood had but dim perceptions 
of the glorious things which our eyes have seen, 
and our ears have heard. Redemption was more 
fully unfolded to the patriarchs — more fully 
still to the prophets — and " in thefe laft days," 
in which He has "spoken unto us by His Son," 
more fully than all. This gradual development 
will still chara6lerise "the ages to come" — each 
cycle of thefe ages evolving some new mani- 
feftation of the Divine character and attributes. 
As the saints advanced on earth from grace to 
grace ; — so now it will be afcending from " glory 
to glory," — each new paufe on the steeps of the 
everlafting hills only unfolding new and more 
amazing difcoveries of God's grace and love. 
Nor shall we ever reach that point where our 
knowledge of the Infinite will be complete — 
where we shall be able to fold the wing in its 
upward soaring. An old Englifh writer beauti- 



218 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

fully compares the believer's knowledge of God 
in a future world, to the two well-known mathe- 
matical lines, which, though approaching nearer 
and nearer to one another, never meet. So 
the ranfomed spirit, borne upwards nearer and 
nearer the great Sun of all knowledge, will 
never reach the confines of that light which is 
spoken of as " inacceffible, and full of glory." 
Every new height reached in the infinite pro- 
grefs of the soul, while it will give more infight 
into the myfteries of God's dealings, will only 
infpire with greater longings to know more 
of His ineffable glories. The song of the re- 
deemed is reprefented as waxing louder and 
louder, the more that the mingled wifdom, and 
faithfulnefs, and love of the Almighty is un- 
folded. "The voice of a great multitude" in- 
creafes to the "noife of many waters ;" — deeper 
still, to "the voice of mighty thunderings," (Rev. 
xix. 6.) Here we are but children-dreamers. 
Our path lies through mifty shadows and murky 
clouds ; — our sun, either smiting with its beams, 
or wading through a stormy sky, or "going 
down while it is yet day." Here, the believer 



FROM GLORY TO GLORV. 219 

walks in darknefs and can see no light ; or 
when he has light for a time, it is often fitful 
and tranfient ; like the luminous wake of a ves- 
sel on a midnight sea, which gilds, only for a 
moment, the waves over which it bounds, and 
then leaves them as dark as ever. But once 
acrofs the threfhold of glory, the "darknefs is 
part, and the true light shineth." His, then, is 
an "unfmiting and unfetting sun." "The sun 
shall not smite thee" says one, (Ps. cxxi. 6.) 
" Thy sun shall no more go down? says another, 
(Isa. lx. 20.) It is called " the inheritance of the 
saints IN LIGHT," (Col. i. 12.) 

Have I begun this path of heavenly love and 
knowledge now? Am I progreffmg in it ? Do 
I feel some dawnings of the heavenly light, — 
earnefts and antepafts of the full day of glory ? 
Let all God's dealings serve to quicken me in 
my way. Let every affliftion it may pleafe Him 
to send, be as the moving pillar-cloud of old, 
beckoning me to move my tent onwards — say- 
ing, "Arife ye, and depart, for this is not your 
refi" (Mic. ii. 10.) Let me be often standing 
now on faith's lofty eminences, looking for "the 



220 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

day of God" — the rifing sun which is to set no 
more in weeping clouds. 

Wondrous progreffion ! How will all earth's 
learning, — its boafted acquirements and eagle- 
eyed philofophy, — sink into the lifpings of very 
infancy in comparifon with this manhood of 
knowledge ! Heaven will be the true "Exceljior" 
Its song, "a song of degrees ;" — Jefus leading His 
people from height to height of glory, and say- 
ing, as He said to Nathanael, " Thou shalt see 
GREATER things than thefe /" (John i. 50.) 

And — moft elevating thought of all ! — I shall 
be advancing gradually in refemblance to my 
Divine Lord and Mafter! And yet the further 
I advance, with more fervent lip and devout 
ardour shall I sing, — 

" Nearer , my God, to Thee! 

Nearer to Thee ! 
Still all my song shall be, 
Nearer, my God, to Thee ! 

Nearer to Thee!" 




XXVI. 




" They stand, thofe walls of Zion, 
Conjubilant with song ; 
And bright with many an angel, 
And many a martyr throng. 

" The Prince is ever near them ; 
The light is aye serene ; 
The paftures of the bleffed 
Are deck'd in glorious sheen. 

" And they, beneath their Leader, 
Who conquer'd in the fight, 
For ever, and for ever, 
Are clad in robes of light." 

Bernard ofCluny {\2th Century.) 

"They that be wife shall shine as the brightnefs of the 
firmament, and they that turn many to righteonfnefs 
as the stars for ever and ever." — Dan. xii. 3. 



[ERE is another Grape from the Efhcol 
8 clufters — another glimpfe of coming 
glory. Though suggeftive of truths on 
which we have already dwelt, thefe may well 




222 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

bear repetition, prefenting us, under a different 
afpe£t, with frefh motives and encouragements 
for purfuing with ardour our heavenly way. 

We are here reminded that there will be diffe- 
rent gradations of blifs in a coming Heaven. 

The "wife" are to have one reward ; "they 
that turn many to righteoitfnefs" will have a 
higher and greater. 

This syftem of gradation obtains throughout 
all the other diverfe works of the Creator, and 
it may in this refpect be taken as a shadow 
of heavenly things. In the material world, we 
afcend from the grain of duft and invifible atom, 
by giant strides, to satellites, planets, suns. In 
our own globe, we have the pleafing diverfity 
and undulation of surface, from the little tumuli 
on the bofom of the plain, to the stupendous 
Alp and Andes. In the vegetable kingdom, we 
have a graduating scale, from the tiny mofs and 
lichen and blade of grafs, through the afcending 
series of plants and shrubs to the monarch oak 
and cedar. In the animal kingdom, we afcend 
from the animalcule and mollufc to the lordly 



THE HEAVENLY FIRMAMENT. 223 

lion. A still higher step brings us to the region 
of human intelledl and intelligence ; while this, 
again, in its diverfities of ranks, affords frefh evi- 
dence of the law of which Ave speak. 

It will be the same in glory. There will be 
varying eminences in the Heavenly landfcape — 
diversified grades in the Heavenly family. It 
will have its " thrones and dominions," its 
"principalities and powers" — the " firjl" and 
the " leafi in the kingdom." 

God, in a striking paffage in the prophecies of 
Ifaiah, reprefents " the fir, the pine-tree, and the 
box together" as " beautifying the place of His 
sanctuary," (Isa. lx. 13.) It is a picture of the 
heavenly courts — the celeftial gardens. An 
affemblage of diverfe trees, each perfe6l in their 
kind, from the lowly box to the stately pine. 
But they are " together" — in the same place ; — 
a glorious group, — each branch and each leaf 
combining to " beautify " the holy place ; — glori- 
fying the "houfe of His glory!" (Isa. lx. 7.) 

The verfe further tells us, that all %7t Heaven 
will be happy. 



224 GRAFES OF ESHCOL. 

The " wise" — that is, they who have sought on 
earth the true "wifdom which cometh from 
above" — they who have repofed with undivided 
and unwavering truft in Chrift, the " Wifdom of 
God;" — who have been diligent in the cultivation 
of perfonal piety, — they shall shine " as the bright- 
nefs of the firmament? They may have been 
little known on earth ; their graces may have 
shone dimly and in obfcurity ; their faith may 
have even been comparatively weak, and their 
love languid and fitful ; — yet, being " the children 
of the kingdom," they will be inverted with a 
happinefs beyond the power of heart to conceive, 
or tongue to tell. 

Let each afk, "Am I among the number of thefe 
'wife' ?" Let me see to it that mine is not the 
mere lamp of profeffion, deftitute of the oil of 
grace, leaving me at laft among the foolifh 
" dreamers " and loiterers upon whom " the door 
is shut ! " Let me make religion a matter of 
earneft, downright, perfonal concernment. Let 
me prove in my happy experience even now, 
that wifdom's ways are " ways of pleafantnefs" 
and wifdom's paths "paths of peace? So that at 



THE HEAVENLY FIRMAMENT. 225 

laft, in the day when He " maketh up His 
jewels/' I may be " a crown of glory in the hand 
of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of 
my God!" (Isa. ii. 3.) 

This verfe further reminds us, that there will 
be pre-eminent rewards and bleffednefs in store for 
tliofe who have been energetic in the canfe and 
service of God on earth, 

I mufb seek to be "wise" firft, — to have my 
own soul deeply imbued with Divine things, — to 
have a perfonal and saving intereft in the great 
salvation. But if I be afpiring after Heaven's 
loftieft recompenfe, I muft "add" to my faith 
" fortitude," and the other exalted graces of the 
Chriftian character, (2 Pet. i. 5.) The privilege 
of shining as the fixed stars " for ever and ever," 
is referved for " thofe who tarn many unto 
righteotfnefs." 

There is a Chriftianity — a true and sincere 
life of faith — which, though we cannot call it 
selfifh, is more negative, and lefs influential and 
expanfive, than it ought to be. Like the quiet 
lake into which a stone has fallen, the centre of 



226 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

the heart has been touched by a san6tified 
power ; but we see at beft only dim indications 
of the widening circles of beneficence and 
charity, self-denying love and holy deed. The 
nobler phafe which true religion affumes, is that 
which manifefts a diffufive influence : when the 
believer becomes an " epiftle of Chrift, known 
and read of all men;" — a living tree, not only 
deeply rooted in faith and love, but waving with 
the fruits of holy living and holy a6ling, — love 
towards God expanding into a sanctified love 
towards all mankind. Following the footfleps 
of the Great Exemplar, he delights in doing 
good, and in attracting sinners to that glorious 
righteoufnefs which is "unto all, and upon all 
them that believe," (Rom. iii. 22.) 

While the faithful ambaffador of Chrift, the 
honoured and self-denying miffionary, are thofe 
who are pre-eminently referred to in this ennob- 
ling promife, it dare not be limited or reftri6led 
to thefe. Thofe in humbler and lefs prominent 
spheres in the Church and the world, have an 
equal warrant to appropriate it. It is a bold 
and beautiful figure, intended to exprefs the re- 



THE HEAVENLY FIRMAMENT. 227 

compenfe in store for earneft individual effort — 
whether by station, money, influence, or char- 
after — in the caufe of God. The pious parent, 
the faithful teacher, the diftri<5l visitor, the de- 
vout philanthropift, the generous giver for the 
sake of Chrift ; and, more than all, thofe who 
exhibit the hallowed power of a devout, un- 
selfifh, Chrift-like demeanour, the every-day 
and perpetual leffon of a holy walk and a 
holy life ; — thefe are hereafter to shine as the 
brighteft conftellations in the celeftial firma- 
ment. There are many stars invifible to us, 
which are exerting an important influence 
among the heavenly bodies. So there are 
many lowly believers whofe influence now is 
unknown — invifible — secret, — who are yet tell- 
ing upon others, often moft powerfully, when 
leaft conscious of it themfelves. The calm elo- 
quence of a Chriftian's life and a Chriftian's 
death has impreffed and convinced, when the 
moft laboured pulpit oratory has been of no 
avail. Remember the Bible pi6lure of the judg- 
ment-day. " What ! I saw Thee an hungered, or 
naked, or thirsty ! — I, who occupied no promi- 



228 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

nent part in Thy Church on earth ! — I, a lowly 
believer who lived and died in obfcurity!" 
It is enough ! " Ye did it to the leaft of thefe my 
brethren" and in doing so, "ye did it unto 
Me!" (Matt. xxv. 40.) 

Be it mine to afpire after higher and higher 
manifeftations of Chriftian excellence. Let me 
take the lofty motto of the apoftle : "Not as 
though I had afready attained;" — "always abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord" (Phil. hi. 12; 1 Cor. 
xv. 58.) The more of praftical holinefs now, the 
more of tranfcendent bleffednefs hereafter. The 
original one pound depofit may, by diligent trad- 
ing, gain me ten pounds, (Luke xix. 18.) As 
" the sleep of the labouring man " is said to be 
" sweet," so, sweeter will be the reft of glory to 
thofe who have toiled bravely, and worked ear- 
neftly. Not one trifling seed of all I sow can 
be loft. It will spring up at laft, and yield an 
hundredfold of recompenfe, to the praife, and 
honour, and glory of God. 

Is there nothing I can do in the way of turn- 
ing some of my fellow-sinners to righteoufnefs ? 



THE HEAVENLY FIRMAMENT. 229 

What a tranfcendent honour to hear through 
eternity from the lips of some glorified saint, 
" You were the means of leading me firft to 
think of my soul ! You were the firft to unfold 
to me the beauty and glory of the Saviour's 
chara6ter, and His infinite adaptation to all the 
wants and neceffities of my tried and suffering 
and tempted nature !" How bleffed the thought, 
that as "jewels" set in Immanuel's crown, we 
shall, (like the gems of earth when placed in 
the same diadem) enhance by mutual reflec- 
tion each other's brightnefs, — all redounding to 
the glory of Jefus, at whofe feet each gem and 
each crown w T ill be caft. 

Reader! let not the poor engroffments of 
earth out-peer and eclipfe the brightnefs of this 
glorious heritage. Seek to be able to say, with 
one who had heaven ever in his eye, (i We look 
not at the things which are seen, but at the things 
which are NOT seen!" (2 Cor. iv. 18.) He seems 
to say, So glorious and out-dazzling are the 
profpe6ls of coming glory, that they are like 
the sun extinguifhing the taper. The things of 



23O GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

earth are not worth looking at, — they pale into 
nothing, when brought side by side with the 
grandeur of the future. 

Hear your Lord's voice saying, " Occupy till I 
come" (Luke xix. 13.) Make the moft of fleet- 
ing opportunities. The night of earth is "far 
spent," the day of eternity is clofe "at hand." 
Forget not, it is now or never. In moft other 
earthly things, there are new chances, — new 
experiments; in familiar language, "we can try 
again." But, once acrofs yonder boundary of 
time, and an irrevocable seal is stamped on the 
tranfaftions of the paft. The star takes its 
immutable place in the spiritual firmament: 
" Where the tree falleth there it shall be." 




XXVII. 




^L\)t S!iictor'0 S>ong;. 



" Who are thefe in bright array, 
This innumerable throng 
Round the altar night and day, 
Tuning their triumphant song ? 

" Thefe through fiery trials trod, 

Thefe from great affliction came ; 
Now, before the throne of God, 
Seal'd with His eternal name. 

" Clad in raiment pure and white, 
Victor-palms in every hand, 
Through their great Redeemer's might 
More than conquerors they stand. 

" Hufh'd all sadnefs and all sighs, 
Perfect love difpels their fears, 
And for ever from their eyes 

God has wiped away their tears." 

" And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels 
round about the throne, and the beafls, and the elders : 
and the number of them was ten thoufand times ten 
thoufand, and thoufands of thoufands ; saying with a 




232 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re- 
ceive power, and riches, and wifdom, and strength, 
and honour, and glory, and bleffmg." — Rev. v. ii, 12. 

f ERE is the Song of Heaven ! It is sung 
by a mighty chorus, — concentric ranks 
of redeemed and unredeemed, — angels, 
archangels, cherubim, seraphim. The seer of 
Patmos gets only a diflant glimpfe of the vaft 
multitude, — he sees a few twinkling lights, as it 
were, in the suburbs of the eternal city. But 
the voice borne to his ear is "as the noife of 
many waters J" 

It is one section of that myriad throng on 
which the eye is moll: intently fixed — " THE 
ELDERS ;" — i.e., the ranfomed from the earth. 

How diverfe and varied their antecedent 
hiftories ! Some are there, who had died in in- 
fancy. Some, who on earth had grown gray in 
the service of their heavenly Mailer. Some, who 
had been arrayed in worldly greatnefs, but who 
were yet "clothed with humility " — into whofe 
lap had been poured the full cup of profperity, 
but whofe lives had been confecrated as a per- 
petual thank-offering of praife to the Giver, 



THE VICTOR'S SONG. 233 

Others again, whofe only earthly heritage was 
the beggar's hovel, — whofe path had been strewn 
with thorns, and their eyes dimmed with tears, 
— yet who had borne all with unmurmuring 
submiffion. Some, who were champions of the 
faith — their names in all the churches. Others, 
" the Lord's hidden ones," — their deeds of faith, 
and love, and charity, unknown to all save to 
Him who seeth in secret. 

(1.) This Vifeon speaks of the UNITY pervading 
the vajl multitude. 

All unite in one song, " Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain f" No one worfhipper will look 
with supercilious eye on another. The angels 
great in might, — the cherubim burning with 
devotion, — the seraphim soaring in intellectual 
power, — will be bound to the lowlieft saint in 
heaven by the one cementing principle of love! 
Thefe " redeemed from the earth " may have 
lived in diverfe periods of the world, different 
epochs of the Church ; — they may have dwelt 
in different climes, — they may have lifped the 
name of Jefus in different tongues, — they may 



234 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

have belonged to varied denominations, — wear- 
ing on earth different livery, and though looking 
to one Shepherd, may have clung to separate 
sheepfolds. Now, they are drawn into holy unity 
by the sweet attraction of the same crofs. Hav- 
ing no longer any separate interefts, each mem- 
ber of the glorified throng is a£tively employed 
in promoting the interefts and happinefs of his 
fellows. " Whether there be tongues, they shall 
ceafe," (i Cor. xiii. 8.) Language is now a 
greater barrier between church and church, than 
are mountains and rivers, continents and oceans ; 
but thefe different dialects of earth shall then be 
merged into the one sublime language of eternity. 
Well may the gifted author of the " Saint's 
Reft" say, "What a bleffed society will the 
family of heaven be, and thofe peaceful inhabi- 
tants of the new Jerufalem, where there is no 
divifion, nor differing judgments, nor difaffec- 
tion, nor strangenefs ; no deceitful friendfhip — 
no, not one unkind expreffion, nor an angry look 
or thought ; but all are one in Chrift, who is one 
with the Father, and all live in the love of Him 
who is love itfelf." 



THE VICTOR'S SONG. 235 

(2.) The sublime vifion of John seems further 
to indicate, that the Church triumphant will then 
be complete. Not one heir of glory will be miffing, 
— not one stone of the stupendous temple want- 
ing, — not one sheaf of the glorious harveft loft. 
The number is " ten thou/and times ten tlwufand, 
and thoufands of thoufands !" 

That was an hour of deep intereft in the paft, 
when the spirit of Abel entered Heaven, and 
stooped solitary and alone before the throne of 
God. He sung his song alone ; he was the sole 
reprefentative of the redeemed Church, — the firft 
sheaf in the future teeming harveft of ranfomed 
immortals ! But now the Great Husbandman 
gathers the wheat into His garners, and, lo ! it is 
" a multitude which no man can number!" (Rev. 
vii. 9.) How gladdening to think that vafh con- 
vocation is every day, every year increafing. 
When John was on earth it was a feeble band. 
He said, " We are of God and the whole zuorld 
lieth in wickednefs!" (1 John v. 19.) The Church 
then was like a spark in chaos — a tiny ark 
toffed on a great flood of evil ; but ere long, the 
number of His elect will be " as the sand on 



236 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

the sea-shore." " The children of God " now 
" scattered abroad " will be brought in ; — " the 
whole building, fitly framed together," will stand 
complete and glorious — a " holy temple in the 
Lord," (Eph. ii. 21.) 

But (3.) the "top-stone" will be brought forth 
"with shoutings," and the cry will be "Grace, 
grace unto it? (Zech. iv. 7.) The song of this 
great multitude is an afcription of praife to a 
Redeeming God — "Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain /" 

Yes ! this will be the sweet bond of union — 
" all one in Chrijl Jefus." The hallelujah chorus 
of eternity will be the glorifying of His ador- 
able Perfon and Name ! How painful on earth 
it is to a generous heart, to see a kind and de- 
voted friend unjuftly calumniated and scorned. 
The believer is in this world conftantly com- 
pelled to see his adorable Redeemer defpifed, 
rejected, slighted, blafphemed. Then, he will 
behold Him, honoured, lauded, " crowned Lord 
of all !" J ef its glorified! — we shall be " eye-wit- 
neffes of His majefty." If, even here, we delight 



THE VICTOR'S SONG. 237 

to see honour conferred on thofe we love, — how 
shall we exult in joining our feeble afcriptions 
with thofe of the great multitude, in celebrating 
the glory of Him w T hofe love will there shine 
forth in all its peerlefs and tranfcendent magni- 
tude ! 

"The Lamb" — "the Lamb that zvas slain!' 
It seems, at firft, a strange name and a strange 
theme, in a place where suffering is unknown 
and where pain never enters ! But it signifi- 
cantly tells, that the work of Chrift is to be the 
theme of eternity ; that it is the heights of Re- 
deeming Love the saints are to be engaged in 
scaling ; — the depths of grace they are to be 
engaged in fathoming. They will ever have the 
wondrous truth recalled, " But for that dying, 
bleeding Lamb, w T e muft have been eternally 
loft; — but for that wondrous grace of His, ours 
muft now, and for ever, have been a portion in 
the reftlefs surges of that fiery burning lake ! 
" Doubtlefs," says Baxter, " this will be our 
everlafting admiration, that so rich a crown 
should fit the head of so vile a sinner. . . . 
Let DESER FED be written on the door of 



238 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Hell ; but on the door of Heaven and life, The 
Free Gift!' 

Reader! prepare for this lofty society, — the 
jprefence of angels — the prefence of Jefus. Oh 
surpaffing honour ! the profpe6l of being linked 
through everlafting ages with every glorious 
Being in the univerfe, — a brotherhood with sera- 
phim, ■ cherubim, saints, martyrs ;— yea, union 
and communion with God Himfelf ! 

If there be "joy in heaven among the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth;" what 
will be that lofty burft of jubilee refounding 
from a ransomed Church, when all its mem- 
bers shall be gathered in ; and when the crowns 
of " ten thoufand times ten thoufand, and thou- 
sands of thoufands," shall be caft at the feet of 
" Him who sitteth upon the throne " and " the 
Lamb, for ever and ever!" 




XXVIII. 




" Sweetefl strains from soft harps stealing ; 
Trumpets, notes of triumph pealing ; 
Radiant wings and white stoles gleaming. 
Up the steps of glory streaming ; 
Where the heavenly bells are ringing. 
Holy, holy, holy ! singing 

To the mighty Trinity ! 
Holy, holy, holy ! crying ; 
For all earthly care and sighing 

In that city ceafe to be." 

Thomas a Kempis, 1380. 

a Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." 
— Rev. vii. 9. 




|HAT a tranfition ! from earth to heaven, 
— from the mortal to the immortal, — 
from partial sanftification to complete 
and everlafting purity. The beggar " lifted from 
the dunghill," " set among princes," and caufed 
to inherit "a throne of glory !" (1 Sam. ii. 8.) 

" Clothed with white robes, and palms in their 
/lands. 91 It is a figurative reprefentation of glo- 



240 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

rified saints, as " priejls and kings unto God." 
The " white robe " is the sacerdotal emblem — 
the " palm " is the kingly. They are to have 
cenfers as well as crowns. They are to be em- 
ployed as confecrated Levites in the Heavenly 
Temple, as well as to reign inverted with regal 
dignity. As in all the Bible pictures of Heaven, 
so, here, there is a beautiful union of a<5tive service 
with royal honour. " His servants shall SERVE 
him" — "They shall reign for ever and ever," 
(Rev. xxii. 3, 5.) 

The expreffion, " standing before the throne," 
denotes boldnefs, confidence, acceptance. They 
are " accepted in the Beloved." They could 
have no other boldnefs but in Jefus. Their 
robes derive all their whitenefs, their palms all 
their greennefs, from Him, before whom every 
palm is waved, and at whofe feet every crown is 
caft. They sung by anticipation in their mili- 
tant state, and they may love to repeat it still 
as "a song of remembrance" — 

" Bold shall I stand at that great day ; 
For who aught to my charge shall lay ? 
While by Thy blood abfolved I am, 
From sin's tremendous guilt and shame ! 5> 



THE VICTOR'S DRESS. 241 

Have / this boldnefs and confidence now? 
Am I now clothed in the imputed righteoufnefs 
of Immanuel ? And do I look forward to the time 
when I shall stand arrayed alfo in the stainlefs 
robe of/^/2?//tf/holinefs — that " raiment clean and 
white, which is the righteoufnefs of the saints ;/V 
(Rev. xix. 8.) Do I love to think of Heaven as 
a place of a6live employment ; where, as a 
member of the glorified priefthood> I shall mini- 
ster at God's altar, and be emulous with zeal for 
His honour and glory ? Jefus comes down now 
to earth to " sup " with me, (Rev. iii.) Then 
I shall sit down at His everlafting banquet, 
and hold uninterrupted fellowfhip with Him. 
" THEY shall walk with ME in white, for they are 
worthy" (Rev. iii. 4.) 

But I shall be a KING too. I shall stand with 
a palm-branch in my hand! The weapons "of 
earthly toil and warfare will then be laid afide ; 
the emblems of triumph and vi6lory take their 
place. The Roman conqueror afcending to the 
Capitol of old, with the laurel on his brow, and 
the palm waving above his head, was a feeble 
type of the sinner saved by grace, paffing 



242 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

through the triumphal arch of glory, to receive 
" the crown of life " which his Lord has pro- 
mised ! " The kings of the earth" we read, " do 
bring their glory and honour unto it" (Rev. xxi. 
24), — that is to say, all the pomp and splen- 
dour of earthly sovereignty is taken to typify 
and image forth the transcendent greatnefs of 
Heaven. 

We may well paufe and wonder at thefe royal 
honours in referve for us ! " KINGS unto God!" 
All the splendours of sovereignty, without its 
haraffments and burdens ! No thorn in the crown ; 
no "sufpended sword" from the "fretted ceil- 
ing," dimming the sparkling jewels with its 
shadow ; and painfully reminding that the 
crown is " corruptible," often " defiled," always 
fading!" 

In Rev. iv. 4 we read, that <c round about the 
thrones were twenty-four seats," (or, as that 
might be better and more literally rendered, 
" twenty-four thrones!') Every head is to be a 
crowned one. " I appoint unto you" by covenant, 
says Chrift, " a KINGDOM, even as my Father hath 
appointed unto me" (Luke xxii. 29.) While be- 



the victor's dress. 243 

lievers are designated " a priefthood," they are 
a " royal priefthood," — royally born — royally fed 
— royally attended — royally crowned! Some 
are to have regal authority " over five," some 
11 over ten cities," according to the fidelity with 
which they have difcharged their trufts during 
the period of earthly probation. 

Am I preparing for thefe royal honours ? 
Having "palms in their hands" indicates that, 
as viftors and victorious, thefe sainted conquerors 
were once engaged in the strife of battle. Am 
I fighting now ? Do I feel the world — my own 
heart — to be a battle-field, and that there is no 
difcharge in that spiritual warfare till I reach 
the gates of glory ? Let me not dream of the 
crown, unlefs I am confcious of striving for it. 
It is alone promifed "to him that overcometh" 
(Rev. iii. 21.) It has been quaintly said by a 
writer on this verfe, that " a station on the feet 
in front of the throne in heaven, is the effe6l of 
being often on the knees before the throne on 
earth!' Oh for faith, and grace, and spiritual 
fortitude here, to "fight the good fight of faith, 
and to lay hold on eternal life!" (1 Tim. v. 12.) 



Z44 GRAPES OF ESHCOi.. 

How will the everlafting refpite from pain and 
sorrow, corruption and sin, be all the more en- 
joyed, by reafon of the struggles and conflicts 
which have preceded it ! 

Believer, think of this ! Once within yonder 
peaceful gates, and the blood and duft of the 
earthly arena is wafhed away for ever. The long 
"white robe" speaks beautifully of this pro- 
mifed reft. The toil of the militant state is over. 
There may then be ufed the flowing vefture. 
There will be no need of fleeing, and of girding 
up the drefs, when there is none to purfue. 
When we reach the battlements of glory, we 
shall be able to say, " O enemy ! deftrnctions are 
now come to a PERPETUAL end? (Ps. ix. 6.) 

Glorious time ! — when we shall stand before 
the throne, faultlefs monuments of God's won- 
drous grace. How bleffed if, at a dying hour, 
we can exclaim, in the profpe6l of this royal 
priefthood, this white robe, and evergreen palm, 
" Henceforth there is laid tip for me a crown of 
righieousnefs, which the Lord, the righteous Jtcdge, 
will give me at that day!" (2 Tim. iv. 8.) " Be 
of good cheer, Chriftian, the time is near when 



THE VICTOR'S DRESS. 245 

God and thou shalt be near, and as near as 
thou canft well defire. Thou shalt ever stand 
before Him ; about His throne ; — in the room 
with Him ; — in His prefence-chamber. Wouldft 
thou yet be nearer ? Thou shalt be His child, 
and He thy Father. Yea, thou shalt be an heir 
of His kingdom." 







XXIX. 




^e jl&ffifltlesw amorlti. 



"And I with faltering footfteps journey on, 

Watching the stars that roll the hours away, 
Till the faint light that guides me now is gone, 

And, like another life, the glorious day 
Shall open o'er me from the empyreal height, 
With warmth, and certainty, and boundlefs light." 

"There shall be no night there."— Rev. xxii. 5. 

|S|jPS|j ! ERE is another gleaning from the clufters 
|Ml of Canaan — another bright lamp hung 
r ^^^ 6 ~ out of our Father's diftant dwelling! 
Amid the falling shadows of earth, let us come 
and anticipate the noontide glories of the better 
world, and enumerate a few refpe6ts in which it 
may be said — " There shall be no night there J" 
We found, in our firft Meditation, Heaven 
spoken of under the emblem of Refl. The pre- 
fent figure is suggeftive of kindred reflections ; 
which, though in some refpedts an echo of the 



248 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

former, we may, for the sake of the beautiful 
and expreffive symbol itfelf, be permitted for a 
little to purfue. 

There shall be no night of weaknefs or weari- 
nefs there. 

Here, we are incapable of serving God without 
intervals of repofe. The weary, jaded frame- 
work requires a periodic ceffation from activity. 
Tax either the body or mental powers over-much, 
and we are sure to suffer for it. Here, how often 
does night suggeft the memory of pain and sick- 
nefs — the fevered pulfe — the throbbing brow — 
the sickly taper burning to its socket ; — the ter- 
rible moments of anxiety, when the spirit of 
some loved one was struggling on the confines of 
eternity. Or, if the body be comparatively ex- 
empt from proftration or suffering, how often has 
the believer to complain of a weak and languifh- 
ing frame of soul, — the chill dews of night-fall 
creeping over his beft affe6lions — nay, often 
deprived of the senfible tokens of God's prefence 
and favour, groping in darknefs and seeing no 
light ! But, " there is 110 night' THERE ! " — no 



THE NIGHTLESS WORLD. 249 

languor to steal over the body — no laffitude to 
chain down and hamper the eagle-soarings of the 
spirit ; — no phyfical wearinefs or debility to caufe 
a ceffation in the eternal song ; — no remnants 
of corruption to produce one solitary moment 
or experience of eftrangement from the great 
Source of all light, and love, and happinefs ! The 
tide of love ever full — never ebbing ; — the sun of 
our blifs ever climbing higher and higher the 
meridian, and never shaded by so much as a 
paffing cloud! "Oh! what a moment," says a 
now sainted spirit, " will that be, when the lamp 
of faith will be suddenly extinguifhed — not 
amidft the darknefs of eternal night — but amid 
tlie splendours of everlajiing day ! " 

There shall be no night of ignorance there. 

We are encompaffed here on every side with 
enigmas ; — the doctrines of Scripture (not a few 
of them) irreconcilable with the dogmas of proud 
reason. The ways of God! — they are often a 
"great deep" — mifapprehended — mifinterpreted ! 
Here, we are in the twilight of our being; — Scrip- 
ture speaks of it as " neither light nor dark." 



250 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

What, if revealed in broad day, would be all 
symmetrical in form, affumes dim and diftorted 
and shadowy shapes. Even in the acquifition of 
know } ledge, the mind climbs its tedious way by slow 
and laborious proceffes. The ore'is dug by dint 
of inceffant toil ; and often when the coveted load 
is juft reached, the jaded explorer has to refign 
his tafk! But there, the "glafs darkly" will give 
way to the "face to face." All will be made 
luminous. " In thy light," O God, "we shall see 
light." Knowledge, which is here the refult of 
affiduous labour, will there be gained by intui- 
tion. To see will be to underjland. 

And what shall be said of what we call 
"myjlerious providences?" Eternity will unravel 
every mazy labyrinth in them. It will be one 
of Heaven's loftieft occupations, studying the 
volumes of the paft ; — difcovering them to be 
volumes of faithfulnefs; — every page, which on 
earth seemed blurred, will then stand forth in 
illuminated characters, endorfed with, "God is 
Love!" The cloudieft sky will be seen to 
have had its rainbow, — some token of covenant 
mercy. The higher we climb the mountains of 



THE NIGHTLESS WORLD. 25 I 

glory, the wider spread at our feet will be the 
difcoveries of Jehovah's wifdom. There will be 
no more room for mifgivings. The " why " and 
the "wherefore" of every earthly dealing will 
be revealed. " The channels of the deep waters 
will be all made plain, through which the Al- 
mighty held His darkfome way."* 

There shall be no night of sorrow there. 

A melancholy minor runs its under-tone 
through all our prefent joys. Even when the 
cup is full, there is the aching thought, "This 
cannot always laft." Even when the gourd is 
moft flourifhing, there is often the too truthful 
prefentiment, that the worm may come ; — in a 
moment, it is DOWN ! Night ! — poetry has ever 
spoken of it as the significant type and emblem 
of Death. How impreffively it recalls that cham- 
ber of myfterious silence, where the footfall 
echoed no sound but its own, and the living 
lip of cherifhed friendfhip w r as sealed for ever ! 
With how many the mind is like a hall draped 
in sackcloth, — the long winding paffages of 
* M'Ewen. 



252 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

memory hung with portraits of thofe "who are 
not" — the memorials of buried love ! But there, 
" sorrow and sighing will for ever flee away," (Ifa. 
xxxiii. io.) Joy will there be undiluted. The 
angel of death no longer croffes that threfhold. 
Every shaft is expended. The laft night of 
earth will be the laft night of weeping. Not 
one shadow will flit acrofs that bright firma- 
ment — not one scalding tear will dim the eyes 
of the crowned and glorified. As the verfe in 
Pfalm xxx. may be beautifully and literally 
rendered — " Sorrow " (like a wayfaring man, a 
sojourner) "LODGETH for a night," (the night 
of earth) "BUT, joy cometh in the morning!" 
Happy time ! when, as I reach the gates of 
glory, the laft burden of sorrow will roll from 
my back, and I shall purfue my heavenly way 
rejoicing! 

There shall be no night of sin there. 

It is sin that bound its death-bands over the 
world's fevered brow. "What is soul-reft," says 
Richard Baxter, "but our freedom from sin?" 
Give me all that the world can beftow, so long 



THE NIGHTLESS WORLD. 253 

as this nature of mine remains at the beft only 
partially san<5tified, — continuing to drag about 
with it a body of SIN, I cannot he perfectly happy. 
What a bleffed world would the prefent be, were 
sin expunged from it! What a joyful world that 
SHALL be, where we know that sin is to be for 
ever expelled — the trail of the serpent never 
polluting its bleffed soil ! Here, Satan ap- 
proached w 7 ith his foul affaults even the holy 
Son of God. "Caft thyfelf down," was his blas- 
phemous appeal, as he took him to the Temple 
summit, (Matt. iv. 6.) But the Prince of this 
world will in vain plant his footfteps on the 
pinnacle of the New Jerufalem Temple ; — into 
it nothing that is unholy shall ever enter. " The 
spirits of the juft" will then be " made perf eel!" 
Here, there is sin in the beft and holieft. There 
are decayed branches in the statelieft Lebanon 
cedars — flaws in the pureft cifterns — ripples of 
corruption in the cleareft fountains ; but there, 
all will be prefented " without fault" before the 
throne — not a trace or lineament of sin adher- 
ing — nothing to be feared, — no dark contingen- 
cies — no real or fancied evils. Night here is a 



254 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

shadowy-time — full of spe£tral images, — types 
of uncertainty, mutability, change. But looking 
forward to Heaven, we have " the hope of eternal 
life y which God that cannot lie, promifed before 
the world began" (Tit. i. 2). Oh ! thrice bleffed 
moment, when the stormy night-watch will be 
over ; — when we shall feel the shallows under- 
neath us, — see the haven in sight, — the morning 
light breaking over the towers of the Heavenly 
city — angels pointing to them as they crowd the 
shore, and exclaiming, in contraft with what we 
have left behind us — "THERE SHALL BE NO 
NIGHT THERE!" 

"I journey forth rejoicing, 

From this dark vale of tears, 
To heavenly joy and freedom, 

From earthly bonds and fears. 
When Chrift, our Lord, shall gather 

All His redeem' d again, 
His kingdom to inherit — 

Good-night, till then ! 

"I go to see His glory 

Whom we have loved below — 
I go — the bleffed angels — 
The holy saints— to know. 



THE NIGHTLESS WORLD. 255 

Our lovely one departed, 

I go to find again, 
And wait for you to join us — 
Good-night, till then ! 

"I hear the Saviour calling — 
The joyful hour has come, 
The angel guards are ready 

To guide me to our home ; 
Where (Thrift, our Lord, shall gather 

All His redeem' d again, 
His kingdom to inherit — 

Good-night, till then!" 





" No sicknefs there ! 
No weary wafting of the frame away, 
No fearful shrinking from the midnight air, 
No dread of summer's bright and fervid ray 1 

" No hidden grief, 
No wild and cheerlefs virion of defpair, 
No vain petition for a swift relief, 
No tearful eye, no broken hearts, are there ! 

" Care has no home 
Within that realm of ceafelefs praife and song ; 
Its t offing billows break and melt in foam, 
Far from the manfions of the spirit-throng !" 

" They shall hunger no more, neither third any more ; 
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat : for 
the Lamb, which is in the midft of the throne, shall 
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains 
of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes."— Rev. vii. 16, 17. 




HIS is a glorious note of celeftial mufic, 
one of the sweeteft chimes of the upper 
sanfluary. All that poetry ever wrote, 



R 



258 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

or touching pathos conceived, falls immeafurably 
short of the grandeur of this paffage. No won- 
der that the Bible-leaf of a great poet, who 
studied to better purpofe the volume of nature 
than the volume of grace, should, neverthelefs, 
be moift with tears here. 

The verfe contains another of the many nega- 
tive defcriptions of Heaven ; for the Bible moft 
frequently defcribes Heaven, not by what it is, 
but by what it is not. The glorified band of 
once sin-stricken and woe-worn pilgrims, have 
now reached the pure river of the water of life. 
They are like Ifrael of old when seated under 
the walls of Jericho, to keep their firft paffover 
in Canaan. The manna had ceafed — they were 
eating the new corn of the land — the hunger, 
the thirft, the sun-blight of the defert were ended, 
— Jordan was croffed. Their weary feet were 
treading the Land of Promise, for which they 
had toiled and suffered during forty protra6ted 
years of wildernefs-privation. But the memory 
of thefe was all that now remained. Their 
Marahs and Achors — their scorching marches — 
the burning sands by day — the chilly damps of 



LIVING FOUNTAINS. 259 

night — their conflict with the disciplined warriors 
of Amalek, — the recolle6lion of all this only 
served to enhance the profpeft of peaceful re- 
pofe in the Covenanted Heritage : " the land of 
brooks and fountains of waters," a land " flowing 
with milk and honey," (Jofh. v. 6.) 

This verfe unfolds the same element of joy 
in the future bleffednefs of the true Ifrael of 
God, which we referred to in speaking of Hea- 
ven under a former emblem — the joy of contrast. 
Here y in this sinning, sorrowing, weeping world, 
the believer hungers, thirfts, weeps, suffers. There, 
in yonder tearlefs world, " he shall hunger no more, 
neither thirst any more!' The unfallen angels 
know nothing of thefe experiences ; they never 
sinned, and therefore they have never known 
what it is to suffer. " Hunger," " thirft," are 
words unknown to them ! But to the glorified 
pilgrim, once sin-burdened and sorrow-burdened, 
— expofed to the fiery sun and the defert blaft, 
— how will the joy of heavenly reft be increafed 
by the remembrance of the toil and conflict which 
preceded it ? 

Here, and There, how startling the comparifon ! 



26o GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

Here, the burning rays of trial often wither* 
up his beft joys. Affli6lion, like the defolating 
simoom, sweeps down in a moment his moft 
cherifhed props and fondeft shelters. There, no 
withering blaft can burft upon him ; — no " fiery 
trial can try him;" — the furnace-heat of the 
desert can no longer be felt or feared ! Here, 
he "hungers," panting after the attainment of 
earthly obje6ls, which, even when attained, never 
satisfy the longings of his immortal spirit. Here, 
he is often like the fevered patient, turning from 
side to side on his anguifhed couch, imagining 
every change of pofture will be eafier. There, 
he shall be eternally and everlaftingly satisfied. 
No longer shall there be so much as one long- 
ing unanfwered, or one aching void unfilled. 
Here, he " thirfls" — " he seeks water and there is 
none." The world's sources of refreshment are 
like the summer's brook, dry when moft needed. 
Read the infcription on that earthly ciftern, — " // 
is leaky;" it "can hold no water!" (Jer. ii. 13.) 
But there the veffel is ever full, ever flowing, over- 
flowing ; — " They shall drink of the river of thy 



LIVING FOUNTAINS. 26l 

pleafures" — " With thee" God, " is the fountain 
of life" (Ps. xxxvi. 9.) 

" God" it is here said, " shall wipe away all tears 
from our eyes." As the word " Eye," to the Jew, 
was synonymous with " Fountain,'' it would seem 
to denote that the gracious hand of a gracious 
God will dry up the very fountain of weeping ; 
so that not so much as one tear-drop will again 
bedim or bedew the face ! Often, here, as weary 
wandering birds, with drooping wing and wail- 
ing cry, we roam over earth's ocean of change ; 
There, we shall fold our wings for ever — neftling 
in safety within the true ark of God. Here, it is 
" without the camp, hearing His reproach!' There, 
it is within the gates, sharing His glory ! 

Oh, what a comfort to traverfe in thought that 
glorious white-robed company, and to think, in 
the midft of my own vilenefs, " They were once 
as vile as I !" Every robe there, was stained with 
sin. u Whence came they?" One was haughty, 
a perfecutor, injurious. Another was a thief, 
tranflated from a felon's crofs to a believer's 
crown. Another is a saint who had efcaped the 



262 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

contaminating influences of" Caesar's houfehold," 
and was made by grace a monument of mercy. 
Another was once a weeping Magdalene. But 
all had u wafhed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb." If the angels 
who have never sinned, find their chief happinefs 
in God's service, what a deepened intenfity of 
joy will there be in the happinefs of sainted 
believers ! The angels know God only as their 
Creator and Benefactor; they know Him as their 
Redeeming God in Jefus. The one can sing, 
u Worthy is the Lamb!" the others alone can add, 
" He was slain for us /" 

Do any mourners read this page ? Be com- 
forted. Liften once more to the sublime dia- 
logue, "Who are thefe?" "Thefe are they who 
have come out of great tribulation ! n There 
is an identity of experience between you and 
every- member of that glorified multitude 
They have all graduated in a school of trial. 
You may now be sowing in tears, but, like 
them, you will soon " reap in joy." And, better 
than all; — "the Lamb" shall " feed you and 



LIVING FOUNTAINS. 263 

lead you? and with His own gentle hand wipe 
away every lingering tear-drop ! If it was 
delightful even on earth to repofe in our every 
anxiety on Him ; — what will it be to reft in the 
arms of His love, w r hen anxiety, sorrow, weak- 
nefs, wearinefs, are known no more ! He has 
loved us in the paft ; — There, we are told He is 
to love us and tend us for ever and ever. On 
earth we have loved perifhable friends too much, 
but here is One we cannot love too well. In 
eternity w r e shall speak of " the great love where- 
with He loved" — nay, wherewith He loveih us ! 

Reader, often anticipate that bleffed com- 
munion and exalted fellowfhip, when you shall 
hear His voice of tendernefs stealing down from 
"the living fountains of waters/' by which He is 
eternally to lead you, saying, " Come up hither !" 
Soon your head will ache no more — your heart 
break no more — cherifhed earthly ties will be 
sundered no more — sin will reign no more. 
There will be no furrowed features there, — no 
withered gourds, — no blighted hopes, — no dread 
of defolating afflictions. The days of your 



264 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

mourning will be ended. And when you see 
Him and throw yourfelf at His feet, what will 
be your confefiion, as from the sunlit summit 
you look back on the windings of the lower 
valley ? " He hath done all things WELL !" 

" More than conquerors at laft, 

Here they find their trials o'er ; 
They have all their sufferings paft, 

Hunger now and thirft no more ; 
No confuming heat they feel, 

From the sun's oppreffive ray, 
In a milder clime they dwell, 

Region of eternal day ! 

"They with Him shall ever reign, 

Them the Lamb shall always feed, 
With the tree of life suflain, 

To the living fountains lead : 
He shall all their sorrows chafe, 

All their wants and doubts remove, 
Wipe the tears from every face, 

In a world of endlefs love !" 




XXXI. 




" O sweet home-echo on the pilgrim's way, 

Thrice-welcome meffage from a land of light ; 
As through a clouded sky the moonbeams stray, 

So on eternity's deep-shrouded night 
Streams a mild radiance from that cheering word, 
1 So shall we be for ever with the Lord.' " 

" I will dwell in the houfe of the Lord for ever." 
— Psalm xxiii. 6. 



|0 mufed a saint of God six thoufand 
years ago, who is now a safe " Dweller " 
in "the Houfe" of which he so sweetly 
sung. 

Can I alfo pluck for myfelf this laft Efhcol 
Grape ; — and go on through the wildernefs, joy- 
oufly treading whatever path my God may see 
meet to allot me, looking beyond the path and 
beyond the wildernefs to the glorious termina* 
tion ? Can I clofe this little volume, endorfing 



266 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

every page with Paul's happy superscription, 
which made him rife superior to all trials, and 
exult in all tribulations : " And so shall we EVER . 
be with the Lord V (i Thefs. iv. 17.) 

Let us gather up a few clofing thoughts of 
coming blifs which our motto-verfe suggefts. 

(1.) "I will dwell? The expreffion speaks of 
perfect security. 

The great haven is reached ; the raging 
waters are all paft ; nothing can ever difturb the 
deep rapture of Heavenly repofe. Shall we re- 
peat once more the oft-reiterated affertion in 
thefe pages, that on earth all is mutation, change, 
infecurity, and that when the sea of life is leaft 
ruffled, there is often the too truthful prefenti- 
ment of the gathering tempeft! Even our spiri- 
tual frames, and feelings, and experiences, how, 
fitful and uncertain. To-day, the entry in the 
soul-diary is, " Thou art my portion, O God? (Ps. 
cxix. 57.) To-morrow, it is, "My soul is cajl down 
within me? (Ps. xlii. 6.) No sooner do we get a 
glimpfe at the third heavens than a " meffenger 
of Satan" is waiting to "buffet" us, and the soar- 
ing eagle falls with difabled wing to the earth. 



FOR EVER. 267 

But not one shadow of change or temptation 
will ever flit acrofs thefe heavenly skies. Stars 
may be quenched, suns annihilated, the world 
pafs away ; but the Believer in Glory stands 
secure, — the crown muft be plucked from the 
Redeemer's brow, ere his can be touched ! This 
is the guarantee of His blifs, — " Becanfe I live ye 
shall live alfo." " The unregenerate," says an old 
writer, "will be paft hope, and the saints paft 
fear, for ever/' Yes ! " I will DWELL." It will 
be an unchangeable happinefs ; or, if changing, 
changing only "from glory to glory 7" 

(2.) " I will dwell in the Houfe of the Lord!' 
This tells of Happinefs and Refl. 

It is a Home word ; — it inverts Heaven with a 
home-afpeft ;— it is a houfehold san6luary. " A b- 
sent," says Paul, "from the body" — (ivSij^o-ao 
Trpbs top Kvptov,) — "at home" "with the Lord!' 
Here, we are out-door servants, expofed to the 
"windy storm and temped." There, we shall be 
taken and welcomed w r ithin the royal palace ; 
clothed, fed, honoured, infide the halls of our 
"Father's dwelling." "Did He love thee, an 
enemy, — thee, a sinner, — thee, who even loathedft 



268 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

thyfelf, and own thee when thou didft difclaim 

thyfelf, and will He not now immeafurably love 

thee a son, — thee a perfect saint ? . . . . When 

perfedt created love and moft perfect uncreated 

love meet together, it will not be like Jofeph 

and his brethren who lay upon one another's 

necks weeping ; it will be loving and rejoicing, 

not loving and sorrowing."* "You now begin/' 

said Chryfoftom to a friend during his exile, 

— "you now begin to lament my banifhment, but 

I have done so for a long time ; for since I knew 

that Heaven is my home, I have efteemed the 

whole world a place of exile." With that " Home" 

ever in view, seek to be able to say, when " the 

Mafter is come and caileth for thee," — 

. " Reach forth Thy hand with pitying care, 
And guide me through the lateft snare ; 
Methinks ev'n now, in burfling beams, 
The radiance from Thy cafement beams ; 
No more I shed the pilgrim's tear, 
I hear Thy voice, my Home is near." t 

(3.) " I will dwell in the Houfe of the Lord 
for everr This speaks of perpetuity. 

"The laft jewel of our crown," says Baxter, 
" Saint's Reft." t Sigourney. 



FOR EVER. 269 

" is that it will be an everlajling reft. . . . While 
we w r ere servants we held by leafe, and that but 
for the term of a tranfitory life, but 'the son 
abideth in the houfe FOR EVER/ Our earthly 
paradife in Eden had a way out, but none that 
we could ever find in again ; but this eternal 
paradife hath a way in, but no way out again." 

Bleffed affurance, amid so much that is tranfi- 
tory ! All the moft enduring things of earth 
are paffing and have paffed away. The palaces 
of Babylon, the towers of Zion, the bulwarks of 
Tyre, they have had their proud magnificence 
written, but it was written on the sands of time ! 
Where are they now ? The tide of ages has wafhed 
nearly every veftige away ! Every little home, 
too, is a world in miniature. Its joys, they are 
paffing; its friendfhips, they are perifhable ; its 
props and shelters, in one night the storm sweeps 
them down ! "But," says Jefus of His redeemed 
saint, " I will. make him a pillar in the temple of 
my God, arid he shall go no more out" (Rev. iii. 12.) 
The true Ark will bring its crowded millions to 
the summit of the heavenly Ararat, not to go 
forth again amid storm and tempeft, to battle 



270 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

with sin and sorrow, but to repofe amid the 
unbroken sunfhine of the everlafting hills. On 
earth " there is a time to be born, and a time to 
die," (Eccles. iii. 2.) In Heaven, " they neither 
marry nor are given in marriage" (Matt. xxii. 
30.) There are neither births nor deaths as 
here; no wearing out of succeffive generations, — 
" neither shall they die any more" (Luke xx. 36.) 
What a volume is contained in thefe two words, 
"FOR EVER!" To think that after millions on 
millions of years and ages shall have rolled by, 
still I shall be but on the threfhold of im- 
mortal being, on the confines and outfkirts of 
limitlefs life. My lifetime commenfurate with 
that of God Himfelf. His throne the centre of 
my blifs, eternity the circumference. " O Eternity ! 
Eternity !" says one who has now entered on the 
reality,* " it is thine to crown the joys above. 
Thou art the knot which bindeth the bundle of 
life together. Without the thought of thee, dim 
sadnefs would not spare the faces of the bleffed ; 
their songs would be marred with dreadful dis- 
cordance, and all the blissful bowers would lofe 
their charms." 

* M'Ewen. 



FOR EVER. 27I 

Is this " Houfe of the Lord" to be my everlaft- 
ing dwelling-place ? Let me seek to regard it 
with a home-feeling ; to have my afifeftions more 
centred on it. Let the intervention of no meaner 
obje6l dim or obfcure its glories. It is said of 
good Philip Henry, that when his children vifited 
him, he ufed to pray " that their next meeting 
might be either in Heaven or further on in their 
way towards it." Soon the morning hour shall 
strike. The canopy of night is now glittering 
with stars of promife — earnefts of the day of 
glory. Already gleams of light steal through 
the diftant cafement, — "The Beloved" is " look- 
ing through the lattice," (Song of Sol. ii. 9,) and 
saying that the "little while" of earth will soon 
be over, and " He that shall come, will come." 
The precife day of His coming is unknown, that 
we may attend upon every day, and that we 
may not have our roll to search for, when the 
sound of His chariot-wheels is heard ! 

We have been traverfing in thought the glories 
of a coming Heaven — plucking a few Efhcol- 
clufters from the celeftial vineyard ; yet, after 



272 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

all, how poor, how inadequate our conception of 
future blifs! Two infpired penmen have written 
on the same theme. John never saw Heaven ; — 
he attempts to defcribe it. He paints its walls of 
jafper, and gates of cryftal, and streets of gold. 
Paul did see Heaven. He was caught up to its 
gates. He gazed where mortal eye had never 
gazed before. He saw glory rifmg on glory. He 
obtained a sight of " the invifible." When he re- 
turns to earth to commit the wondrous apoca- 
lypfe to writing, he is dumb; — the pen drops from 
his hand ; he gives, as the nobleft description of 
it he can give, that it is indefcribable. "I saw," 
he says, "what it is not pofjible for a man to 
tetter" (2 Cor. xii. 4.) 

O God ! do Thou grant, by the aids of that 
Holy Spirit whofe office and work it is "to shew 
us things to come," (John xvi. 13,) that thefe fee- 
ble thoughts and mufmgs on coming glory, may 
tend to wean me from earth, and train me for 
Heaven ; leading me to live more habitually 
under the power of things unfeen, — to have more 
of the girded loins and the burning lamps, and " so 
much the more" as I see "the day approaching," 



FOR EVER. 273 

(Heb. x. 15.) " Time paffeth on," says the saintly 
Baxter, — who always seems to stand as if one 
foot had already croffed the heavenly threfhold, 
— "yet a few days and we shall be here no more. 
Many difeafes are ready to affault us. We that 
are now preaching, and hearing, and talking, and 
walking, muft very shortly be carried and laid in 
the duft. We are almoft there already. We know 
not whether we shall have another sermon, or 
Sabbath, or hour ! How a6live should they be 
who know they have so short a space for so great 
a work." 

Reader, may thefe " sips of the heavenly 
fountain" refrefh you for your onward journey. 
May thefe vintage-gleanings in thedefert lead you 
to long more ardently for the fulnefs and fruition 
of the true Canaan. Prefs forward, " uphill and 
downhill, to the city which hath foundations ;" so 
that when death comes, you may have nothing 
to do but to die; — to leave the pilgrim-staff, and 
take up the pilgrim-crown ; — to step afhore from 
the veffel of life, and make your final "leap into 
the arms of Infinite Love." "Already," said Ed- 
ward Bickersteth,when in sight of Glory, "already 

S 



274 GRAPES OF ESHCOL. 

I see the diftant shore! I behold the Holy City 
having the glory of God, whither are gone many 
dear friends. There I hope to meet many of 
thofe now so juftly dear to me. What want I 
more? God is there, my portion, my joy, my 
happinefs, and in His prefence is ' fulnefs of joy/ 
Animated with thefe hopes, what is the pageant 
of this world ?" 

"Here kindred hearts ar". isLver'd far and wide 

By many a weary mile of land and sea, 

Or life's all varied cares, and paths divide ; 

But yet a joyful gathering shall be — 
The broken links rep air' d— the lost restored — 
'So shall we be FOR E"ER with the Lord!' 

" O precious promife, mercifully given, 

Well may it hum the wail of earthly woe ; 

O'er the dark paffage to the gates of heaven, 

The light of hope and refurredlion throw ! 

Thanks for the bleffed iife-infpiring word — 

'So shall we be FOR EVER with the Lord!'" 

e AMEN ! EVEN SO ! COME. LOPvD JESUS I* 



FOR EVER. 



275 



" EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, 

NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, 

THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED 

FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM," 

I COR. II. g. 




TfcEnd. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
{724)779-2111 



ssuo 




$21*9****} »h?^i ■ .:. - 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 652 458 8 




